Dead Realm
by Native Avenger
Summary: Isaac Clarke has survived the events of the second Aegis VII incident and the USG Ishimura. While trying to find a planet to get supplies, he has stumbled upon a certain planet that is home to dragons and other alien creatures. Follow the journey of the sole-surviving space engineer as he aids the purple dragon of legend to save the elemental guardians from the wrath of Cynder.
1. Dead on Arrival

**Sup everyone! I've got my newest story up and we'll see how everyone's favorite space engineer will react to the Dragon Realms. I have to thank gw1000 for the plot idea, he's been a big help. This story will take place just after the first Dead Space and during A New Beginning, so this will obviously have spoilers. I hope you readers enjoy the first chapter!**

Chapter 1: Dead on Arrival

Blue holographic static is all that can be seen. It sparked and sizzled as the machine tried to focus on what it was meant to show. After a few short seconds, words started to scroll onto the screen.

_**CEC MISSION ER529 [FAILURE]**_

_STATUS REPORT_

_USG CRUISE SHUTTLE 09 IN ROUTE TO PURPURA SYSTEM:_

_**PRIMARY MISSION ASSETS**_

_ISAAC CLARKE – ENGINEERING AND SHIP SYSTEMS SPECIALIST [ALIVE]_

_KENDRA DANIELS – COMPUTER SPECIALIST [DECEASED]_

_ZACH HAMMOND – CHIEF SECURITY OFFICER [DECEASED]_

_OBJECTIVE A: LOCATE MINING VESSEL USG ISHIMURA [COMPLETED]_

_OBJECTIVE B: DAIGNOSE AND REPAIR COMMUNICATIONS BLACKOUT [FAILED]_

_**CLOSEST INHABITABLE PLANET: 4 MINUTES…**_

The words went away in a haze of static and a blue tinted eye replaced them. The screen zoomed out until a light haired woman's face was on the screen.

"Isaac it's me… I wish I could talk to you. I'm sorry about everything. Ev…" the recording was ended when a gloved hand covered in blood stains pressed a holographic button.

Isaac Clarke sighed as he leaned back in his seat. It has been three days since he escaped the USG Ishimura and the Aegis VII colony. He is running dangerously low on food and empty food canisters littered the floor. Even though the Marker was destroyed back at the colony, he still heard whispers in his head occasionally.

The engineer rested his hands on his head and thought about everything that went wrong in the Aegis system.

'Nichole is dead… my Nichole is dead. It's that fucking artifact's fault. It made her kill herself.' Isaac thought mournfully as his eyes started to tear up.

The holographic monitor beeped, causing the traumatized engineer to jump in surprise. He turned off light-speed and looked out the windshield of the shuttle. Isaac was surprised when he saw an Earth-like planet in the distance.

'What the fuck? I thought Earth was the only planet that could support life.' he thought to himself as the shuttle slowly approached.

Isaac stood up and walked to a small table in the corner of the room that has a brown helmet resting on it. He grabbed the protective headwear and placed it over his whole head. He was now covered from head to toe with his Advanced Engineer RIG.

The space suit is covered with brown rib-like armor plates. His back has eight glowing blue bars running up his spine and a glowing blue backwards C on the upper right side of his back. The chest plate has a large bulky bulge on it that allows a holographic computer screen to pop up in front of his face when he needs it. Lastly, the helmet has four glowing blue horizontal crevices.

Isaac sighed heavily through the space helmet and sat back down in his seat.

'I don't wanna take any chances. I need food and water.' he thought to himself as he checked his tools and ammo clips.

Once Isaac was sure he was all set, he manually took control of the shuttle and maneuvered it towards one of the planet's continents. He entered the planet's atmosphere and slowed his descent. He noticed that he was flying over what looked like a jungle on some tall mountains.

'So far so good.' he thought as sweat formed on his forehead behind the helmet.

The holograms started blinking red as an emergency alarm blared.

'Fuck…' he thought to himself.

"WARNING! POWER CIRCUITRY ERROR WITH THE ROCKET THRUSTERS! IMPACT IMMINENT!" the shuttle's main computer announced.

'Oh shit…' Isaac thought as he held on to the monitor tightly.

The shuttle quickly lowered to the ground as trees fell over in its wake. Splintering wood flew past the windshield as the shuttle descended and dragged across the ground. It finally came to a stop in a small clearing.

Isaac breathed heavily as he tried to regain his senses. He slowly stood up from his seat and equipped his plasma cutter. He walked to the door at the end of the cockpit and pressed the "open" button.

He slowly walked into the next small room and flinched when a few sparks shot out of the ceiling in front of him. He instinctively raised his plasma cutter, turned on the lights and three blue laser sights, and scanned the room for dangers.

He lowered his tool once he was sure it was safe and opened the door that leads to the exit. The door opened and Isaac could see a jungle in front of him. He turned his plasma cutter on again and scanned the clearing as he walked out of the shuttle.

The only sounds he could hear were birds, insects, and the weak wind pushing against his engineering suit. It is about midday and it is a clear sunny day.

'Beats a pitch dark hallway in some fucked up planet cracker.' the engineer thought to himself as he lowered his tool slightly.

Isaac heard the sounds of monkeys coming from behind the trees and aimed to the left. Three ape-like creatures ran into the clearing and stopped once they saw the blood covered engineer. They were slightly blinded by the plasma cutter's light and three vertical dots could be seen on the middle ape's right arm.

The middle ape boldly stepped forward and cleared his throat to speak.

"You are not an Atlawa or a dragon, neither are you an ape. State your business, now." the ape leader demanded.

Isaac chose to remain silent and continued aiming at the ape's arm. The ape growled in frustration and unsheathed his sword.

"Answer me or we'll gut you!" the ape growled.

'That little piece of iron can't do shit against this.' Isaac thought with an angry frown as he squeezed the plasma cutter's activation button.

The ape leader screeched loudly in pain as its arm fell to the ground from the glowing hot plasma energy. Isaac quickly shot the other arm off without hesitating. The ape fell dead as the other two stared at him in shock.

Isaac switched the tool to horizontal mode and shot off the left ape's head, killing it instantly. The final ape shook of its shock charged forward with its sword raised over its head.

The engineer switched the plasma cutter back to vertical and slowly reeled back. Once the ape was right in front of him, Isaac smashed the tool across the ape's head with a loud grunt, sending it to the ground.

Isaac raised his metal boot and curb stomped the ape's head off with another loud grunt behind his helmet, causing his voice to echo. There was a loud crunch as the head was severed from the body and it rolled to the side, leaving a small trail of blood as it rolled.

Isaac heard his heart pump as he eased his tension. Those apes were nothing compared to the monsters he saw back on the Ishimura, but he was still an engineer, not a fighter.

'Okay… this planet has sentient apes and they're very hostile… shit.' Isaac thought with a quiet groan.

He cautiously walked to the back of the shuttle to check the damage. The engineer pulled the metal cover off so he could see the wiring and saw that half of them were scratched up.

'I'll need some copper to fix this. Even then it might not fly.' Isaac thought to himself as he placed the metal cover back on.

He raised his hand to about waist height and activated his locator system. A blue light glowed brightly at the palm of his hand, but no blue paths formed on the ground.

'Uncharted planet, right.' Isaac thought with a sigh as he deactivated the locator.

He recorded the coordinates to the ship into his RIG computer so he could find his way back and walked in a random direction to find some copper.

"You're going the wrong way…" a male voice whispered in his head.

Isaac stopped with a gasp, turned to the opposite direction, and started walking without hearing more voices. He equipped his pulse rifle as he walked through the jungle.

After a few minutes, some kind of humanoid llama ran out of the tree line and right into Isaac. The engineer was able to remain standing, but the llama creature fell to the ground with a thud. He aimed his rifle at the creature's head, but decided to wait to see what it did before he opened fire.

"Great! First we get apes, then dragons, now an armored tin man!" the llama creature complained as he stood up.

Isaac took a couple steps back as the llama dusted himself off. The llama looked at him with an unpleased expression.

"Why are you here at the Tall Plains? This place is sacred and not welcome to outsiders." the goat demanded.

Isaac remained silent and he eyed the creature carefully behind his glowing blue visors.

"Answer me, outsider! Why are you trespassing in the Atlawa's home!?" the creature, now known as and Atlawa, demanded.

'Just let the crazy guy rant, just like on the ship…' the engineer thought as he didn't speak a word to the creature before him.

The Atlawa growled in frustration and stomped away while grumbling angrily to himself.

'Why do I keep running across fucking nutcases?' Isaac thought to himself as he lowered his pulse rifle.

He decided to ignore the strange event and switch back to his plasma cutter as he continued walking forward. It was mostly quiet as he walked and there seemed to be no dangers. It was like the calm before a storm.

"Above you…" a female voice whispered inside his head.

Isaac quickly looked towards the sky to see a large black dragon circling him from above. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that it was female because of its curvy form.

The engineer panicked and started running away. He didn't get far however as the dragoness landed right in front of him. Isaac skidded to a stop and aimed his plasma cutter at her.

The dragon used her tail blade to whip the tool out of his hands and blasted him with some kind of red wave from her mouth. Isaac froze on the spot as he felt his muscles lock into place; he could only move his head.

'What the fuck is this!?' he screamed in his head as he tried to move, but failed.

"Well well well, what do we have here? An armored creature walking around in my territory. That's an error on your part." the black dragoness scolded with a chuckle as she circled the engineer.

Isaac wasn't scared of this dragoness exactly, but he was terrified of what she might do to him. His fragile mind is still very sensitive from the events in the Aegis system and he just wanted to disappear. The dragoness stopped right in front of his armored face with a smile.

"What's wrong? You don't like being in the presence of the Terror of the Skies?" she asked almost sweetly.

Isaac didn't say anything, but he breathed heavily behind his helmet as he watched the alien creature carefully. The dragoness smiled at his reaction and looked him over.

"I'm not gonna lie, you have a really nice butt." she complimented as she stared down at him.

Isaac was kind of surprised from the compliment, but he still didn't say anything.

"Why are you so quiet? Don't tell me the armored warrior is scawed of wittle 'ol Cynder." the black dragoness mocked childishly as she smiled at him with a toothy smile.

Isaac was starting to get annoyed and he let a small growl escape his throat.

"So you do have emotions. You're an interesting creature." Cynder grinned as she lightly tapped his helmet with a talon.

The black dragoness stepped back and spread her wings to take flight.

"I'll have to keep my eye on you." Cynder said before taking off and flying away.

Isaac's muscles finally relaxed and he was able to move again.

'What the fuck is this place?' he thought to himself as with a disturbed expression behind his helmet.

He shook his head to clear his head of the strange recent events and picked up his plasma cutter. The engineer decided to keep going onward and walked with his tool at the ready.

'I need to find that copper and food so I can get the fuck out of this fucking place.' Isaac thought as he cautiously moved forward into the unknown.


	2. Unlikely Allies

**Hello everyone, I've got a new chapter for you all! It blows my mind that this story has already gotten six reviews. I'm glad that you readers like my stories so much; it really makes my day when I see all the reviews and PMs. I hope you like this new chapter!**

Chapter 2: Unlikely Allies

An ape screeched in pain and agony as it ran around the field while being burned alive. The yellow-orange flames burned away its fur and flesh until it finally fell to the ground with a thud.

"Okay Sparx, it's safe to come out now!" a purple dragon called in the middle of a crop field with newly activated water wheels circulating the water.

"Alright, yeah! We kicked ape butt!" the dragonfly known as Sparx cheered as he flew up to the dragon.

"We? You were hiding while I was activating the water wheels and fighting the apes and armourdilos." the dragon said accusingly with a smile.

"Whatever, Spyro." the dragonfly rolled his eyes.

"Let's go." Spyro chuckled as he ran into the ruins across the field as Sparx followed.

One they got inside, Spyro noticed that they could either go left or right. He could tell that both directions led the same place so he decided to go left. Almost as soon as he did however, a stone brute rose from the flooded ground and towered over Spyro and Sparx.

"Time to hide!" the dragonfly cried fearfully as he flew into a crack in the wall.

Spyro adopted a combat stance and prepared his fire breath. The Brute raised its right arm so slam into the dragon, but he barrel rolled out of the way. He released a torrent of flames at the beast, which proceeded to burn the roots holding its stone limbs together.

As the stone beast thrashed around in pain, Spyro ran up to it and started clawing at it in its weakened state. After a while, it finally fell dead with a rumble.

The purple dragon checked the other direction to see another stone brute ready to fight. The dragon repeated his tactic he used against the other enemy and the monster crumbled to the ground with a thud.

Once the fighting ended, the stone door leading to the exit slowly opened. Sparx flew back to Spyro's side with a toothy smile.

"You're getting a lot better at this, pal!" Sparx praised as he patted the dragon's horn.

Spyro chuckled and led them out of the ruins. Once they were outside, they spotted the Atlawa that Isaac met earlier at the top of the cliff to their left. A group of stone brutes were forcing the llama back towards the cliff.

"Kane!" Spyro yelled in horror.

The llama tripped and fell into the river below. He tried to get up, but he couldn't find the strength to move.

"Yeah, I know the guy's an ingrate, but you gotta do something, and fast!" Sparx told the purple dragon.

Acting on instinct, Spyro opened his maw and breathed a cloud of white mist at the river, causing it to freeze.

Kane noticed in amazement that the river stopped flowing and that ice was keeping him from floating to the waterfall.

"Buddy, you're getting weirder and weirder by the second." Sparx commented as Spyro nodded in agreement with a goofy expression.

The purple dragon glided to the ground below and freezed one of the four stone brutes to death with his newly acquired ice breath. He quickly switched to fire breath and blew a continuous wave of fire at another one of his foes.

It fell dead as Spyro switched to his electric breath and zapped the third monster. It jolted in pain as it backed up and fell off the cliff. The purple dragon turned towards the last enemy and clawed it to death before it could attack him.

Once the fighting was over, the door leading to the next area opened. Spyro looked towards the river to see that Kane was no longer there.

"Wow! We saved his life twice now and he's still a jerk." Sparx said with his arms crossed as he flew back into the open.

"Let's just go." Spyro sighed as he walked through the now opened path.

They maneuvered their way through the tunnel until they came out to see a group of four apes jump down at them while screeching loudly. A much larger ape is standing at the top of the ruins with a bunch of bombs.

Spyro tried to use his fire element to keep the smaller apes at bay, but nothing came out of his mouth.

'Oh no! I must have used all of my energy on the stone brutes!' the purple dragon thought with wide eyes as the apes ran towards him with bloodthirsty expressions.

* * *

Isaac walked through the jungle cautiously while aiming his plasma cutter in front of him. He heard someone shout from somewhere ahead, but he chose to ignore it until whatever made the noise to make itself known.

The space engineer stopped in a clearing and saw three large stone creatures stare directly at him.

'You can't be fucking serious.' he thought with frustration as the brutes stepped forward menacingly.

Isaac put away his plasma cutter in favor for his contact beam. He held the massive tool at the hip as the flashlight turned on and three vertical blue dots appeared on one of the stone monster's chests.

The mining tool started to shake in Isaac's grip as he charged it. He released the activation button and a large bolt of kinetic energy forced the stone monster into a tree. Both the tree and the brute fell to the ground and the monster didn't get up.

The other two stone brutes ran up to Isaac as he placed the barrel on the ground. A ground level shockwave spread out in all directions and knocked the two enemies away.

He quickly raised the weapon to his hip again and charged the weapon. He shot the second enemy into a wall and easily killed it with one powerful shot.

The last brute tried to smack Isaac away, but he managed to jog out of the way just as the monster's arm smashed where he was once standing. He switched his tools and held his ripper at the ready. It shook in his grasp as the saw blade rotated in the tool.

Isaac squeezed the activation button and one of the saws shot out of the tool. It stopped in midair however as a miniature gravity tether kept it in the air. He maneuvered the circular saw towards the brute and cut off both its stone legs with little effort.

The stone brute fell to the ground with a crash and tried to crawl away, knowing that it couldn't win this fight. Isaac moved the saw blade towards the fleeing creature and cut off its arms and head. It finally stopped moving as the gravity tether released the blade. The saw stuck into the corpse as Isaac reloaded his weapons.

Once all of his tools had a new clip, he switched back to his plasma cutter and continued forward. He made sure to scan the area carefully as the built-in flashlight lit the way.

'Just once, I'd like to meet something that doesn't want to kill or dismember me.' the engineer thought with a sigh as he approached the end of the cliff.

He looked down to see a few more of the stone creatures, but they were already dead by unknown means. What caught Isaac's attention however, was the completely frozen river. The engineer was baffled that ice could be here in a rainforest of all places.

'There's no way in hell that, that's natural.' he thought as he tried to find a safe way down.

His foot slipped off of one of the slippery rocks and he fell to the ground with a yell of surprise. The engineer slowly stood up to his feet and shook his head to clear his dizziness.

Isaac flinched when he heard the voice he heard scream earlier yelp in pain. He looked towards the source to see a stone tunnel to his left.

'More hallways…' he thought grumpily as he aimed his plasma cutter in front of him and entered the tunnel.

Once he reached the other end, he saw a small purple dragon defending himself against a large group of apes. He also saw a small yellow light hiding behind some bushes.

'I should probably just slip through while they are distracted…' Isaac thought to himself.

The dragon screamed in pain again as an ape kicked him from behind.

'Okay, fine!' the engineer thought as his muscles tensed and he raised his tool.

Isaac turned on his plasma cutter's flashlight and aimed at the ape that was about to slice into the waist height dragon. The dragon yelped in surprise as the ape's head flew off and it fell dead under a puddle of its own blood.

Before the other apes could even comprehend what was happening, Isaac cut off the grenadier's arms and head at the top of the ruins. It fell to the ground below, never to move again as he shot another smaller ape's head off.

One of the apes screeched in rage and tried to tackle the engineer to the ground. Isaac managed to pry the primate off of him and he used his plasma cutter to bludgeon its face until its skull caved in on itself.

Isaac threw the primate's corpse to the ground and took aim at the next charging ape. Before it could reach him however, the engineer shot its arms off and it fell to the ground. He curb stomped its head off with a loud grunt as the ape layed still on the ground.

The last ape tried to run away in fear, but Isaac took precise aim and cut off its left leg with his plasma cutter.

It screeched in pain as the engineer calmly approached it. He raised his boot and released a loud grunt as he stomped its head off.

Spyro watched all of this in absolute horror and Sparx actually threw up from the display of gore. The blood stained space engineer finally looked at them once the bloodshed ceased and he slowly approached them. His metal boots made every footstep very audible.

"S-stay back!" Spyro stuttered as he tripped onto his back.

He started backing away until he bumped into the wall. The armored engineer stopped his approach once he was standing over him and bent down to his knee. He gently placed a comforting hand on Spyro's shoulder as he deactivated his engineering tool.

Isaac's four glowing blue visors reflected off Spyro's eyes as he watched him with both fear and intense curiosity.

"Who are you?" he asked once he was calm enough to speak without stuttering.

"…Isaac. Isaac Clarke." the engineer's voice echoed behind his helmet.

Spyro started to relax once he realized that Isaac wasn't going to hurt him. Sparx still eyed him with an untrusting eye.

"My name is Spyro and this is my step-brother, Sparx." the purple dragon introduced as he nodded towards the dragonfly.

Isaac nodded and helped Spyro to his feet. Once he could steady himself without help, the engineer took a couple steps back.

"Where am I? What is this place?" Isaac asked as he looked around the Aztec-like ruins.

"These are the Tall Plains, home of the Atlawa." Spyro answered as he tried to not look at the mutilated corpses surrounding them.

"No, what planet is this?" the engineer clarified.

"Ugh… this place is called the Dragon Realms." the purple dragon said with a confused expression.

"What? Are you from outer space or something?" Sparx asked sarcastically.

"I'm from a planet called Earth actually; the North American sector to be exact." Isaac explained like it was no big deal.

"You're from another planet! How did you get here?" Spyro asked with amazement.

"I… flew here... on a ship." the human answered vaguely, not wanting to tell them why he was in the ass end of space.

"I'd hate to break up this conversation, but could we please get away from all these dead apes!?" Sparx shouted with disgust.

Isaac noticed their uneased expressions and nodded in agreement.

"I need to find some copper anyway. Lead the way." the engineer told them.

"Okay." Spyro said as he walked towards

The purple dragon used his wings to jump up onto the ledge above them as Sparx flew by his side. Isaac stepped onto the smaller ledge and climbed up until he was at the same level Spyro and his brother were at.

The purple dragon smashed some nearby spirit gems and absorbed their energy. Isaac looked at Sparx expectantly.

"It lets him shoot magic out of his face." the dragonfly explained while rolling his eyes.

The engineer shrugged as Spyro glided to the other cliff and used his electric element to zap an ape that is manning an earth cannon. Isaac flinched at the display of power as the cannon blew up, killing the ape.

"You'll get used to it." Sparx chuckled as Spyro glided back to them and landed at the engineer's side.

"Seems like we both have a lot of questions to ask each other." Isaac observed.

"I guess we do." Spyro smiled up at him.

They walked to where Spyro glided across, but Isaac stopped at the ledge.

"How you supposed to get across? That suit looks really heavy." the purple dragon questioned with a raised eyebrow.

The engineer spotted a log to their right and raised his left hand. His kinesis module activated and a gravity tether lifted the dead tree into the air.

Spyro and Sparx watched with amazed expressions and mouths agape as Isaac used the log to make a bridge. He deactivated his engineering tool and looked at his new allies with a smile behind his helmet.

"You know, I'm not even gonna ask." Sparx said in defeat as he and Spyro flew across.

Isaac slowly crossed the log while trying to keep balance. The wood creaked every time he took a step, but it held strong. He stepped off the log and followed Spyro to the grassy cliff a little ways away from them.

They noticed a large hollow log with spikes blocking their path once they reached the green grass.

"Let me handle this." Spyro said as he stepped forward.

The purple dragon used his claws to cut away the wooden spikes and the group of three entered the log. An ape tried to jump on Spyro's back, but Isaac quickly shot its head off with his plasma cutter.

"Thanks." Spyro said gratefully.

Isaac nodded and aimed the tool's flashlight in front of them. They cautiously moved to the other end of the log, not knowing what lies ahead in their journey together.


	3. Who Needs Hydroponics?

**Hello everybody! I've written a new chapter as you can plainly see and it's gonna explain how Isaac will get more ammunition. I hope you readers like the chapter and remember to review or PM or whatever you wanna do! Also, thanks for all the support, you people are awesome!**

Chapter 3: Who Needs Hydroponics?

Isaac, Spyro, and Sparx exited the hollow log with caution. They immediately took cover behind some debris as an ape fired earth bullets at them from an earth turret.

Once the ape stopped firing to reload, Spyro jumped out of cover and hurled a fire bomb at the ape via his maw. Both the ape and the turret blew up in a fiery explosion.

"You're not the only one who can shoot things with fire!" Sparx laughed as he lightly punched Isaac's metal plated shoulder.

"I use plasma, not fire." the engineer corrected.

"Same thing." the dragonfly countered.

Isaac just shook his head as Spyro used his fire breath to burn two apes that jumped down from the top of the ruins. Once the apes were no more, the three allies approached two clusters of spirit gems. Spyro smashed and absorbed one of the clusters and moved toward the other to do the same.

"Hey Spyro, you think you could spare me a few gems?" the armored human asked.

"Why? The spirit gems can only be used by dragons." Spyro questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm getting low on thermal clips and I think those gems might recharge my used clips if I get them to my work bench back at the shuttle." Isaac explained.

"How did you figure all that out?" Sparx asked curiously.

"I'm an engineer." Isaac stated as if it was obvious.

Spyro shrugged and stepped aside. The armored engineer walked up the gem cluster and stomped on it with a loud grunt. The gem broke into small pieces and Isaac put most of them in his inventory. Spyro absorbed the rest of the gems and they continued on their way.

There were four apes ahead and one of them was manning an earth cannon. Isaac quickly switched to his pulse rifle and started to mow them all down before they could react to their presence. Once they were all dead with various limbs missing and bullet holes littering their corpses, the engineer stopped firing and reloaded.

"For a quiet guy you sure are loud!" Sparx yelled as he heard ringing in his ear holes.

They continued forward, but were stopped by two swinging logs.

"We're going to have to time this right." Spyro told them.

Before he and Sparx could run off, Isaac lifted his left arm and fired his stasis module attached to his wrist and hand. The logs tinted blue and slowed down significantly. The engineer quickly ran across with Spyro and Sparx close behind them. Once they were across, the logs turned back to their original color and moved at a regular speed again.

"How did you do that?" Spyro asked in amazement.

"We humans are very technologically advanced compared to the creatures' here." the engineer shrugged.

The dragon and dragonfly shook off their baffled expressions and walked up to the short ledge that leads to the next area. Spyro clawed away the wooden spikes, jumped up, and helped Isaac climb up with a helpful paw.

Once they were all up, Spyro and Isaac smashed the gem clusters that were there and then continued on their way.

Spyro helped the engineer up another ledge and they walked to a large open roofed room. Three apes, one big and two small, ran up to them with high pitched battle cries.

"I got the big one." Isaac said as he equipped his contact beam and started charging it.

Spyro charged forward and used his electric breath to zap the smaller apes into some wooden spikes on the ground. There was a loud boom and the purple dragon looked at the large ape's corpse as it slid off the wall and onto the ground.

Three more small apes ran up to them, but Isaac took out his ripper and took aim. He activated the secondary fire that shot the saw blades as projectiles instead of a gravitational saw. The apes were easily put down and one of them even got pinned to the wall behind it.

"You're scary." Sparx said for he was hovering next to the engineer's head the whole time.

Two stone doors simultaneously opened, allowing them entry to the next area. Isaac put away his ripper and took out his plasma cutter as he walked up to Spyro.

"I'll take the left door. You go right." the engineer told him.

Spyro nodded and they each entered their assigned doors, only to meet up again almost as soon as they entered.

"Well that worked." Sparx chuckled.

"Shut the fuck up, Sparx." Isaac said as they walked down the ancient hallway.

They entered a much more open hallway and turned left. They continued forward and jumped down a ledge that led to an even more open area.

The group of three stopped as they saw Kane punch two apes off the cliff from above them.

'Oh… it's this fucker again.' the engineer thought grumpily as they walked into the open area and eyed the llama.

"You again? Why don't you get outta here and leave me in peace. I'm the boss here… nobody else." the Atlawa said as he turned around and took a few steps towards them with his hands on his hips.

"Boss of what?" Sparx asked.

"Yeah, all I see is a pissed off nutcase." Isaac added.

"Shhh!" Spyro shushed them.

"You're all alone?" the purple dragon asked the Atlawa.

"Only until I kick these bums out. Which reminds me, I can't stand here chatting with purple dragons, tin men, and mosquitoes…" Kane ranted.

"Hey, woah, woah. Who you calling a mosquito?" Sparx grumbled.

Isaac simply flipped Kane off with his free hand.

"Besides, it's not safe for you here." the llama continued, ignoring the dragonfly and human.

"Oh, concerned about our welfare now?" the dragonfly accused.

"You didn't give a flying fuck a minute ago." Isaac agreed with a nod.

"No need, we can take care of ourselves. Anyway, we need to get to the shrine." Spyro changed topics.

An ape jumped behind Kane, but he easily kicked it over the ledge.

"You'll never make it." the llama said as he walked away.

"That guy's a bitch." Isaac stated once Kane was gone.

"I'm starting to like this guy!" Sparx smiled.

Spyro rolled his eyes and they continued forward. They turned the corner to see another ape, but Isaac freezed it with stasis and Spyro clawed it to death.

"So what are you two doing here anyway?" the engineer asked as Spyro used a fire bomb to kill three small apes in front of them.

"We're looking for Cyril, the Guardian on Ice. He was captured by Cynder and is being held here." the purple dragon answered as they continued walking.

"I ugh… I think I met a dragon named Cynder." Isaac said quietly before he shot an ape's head off with his plasma cutter.

"You met her!? When!?" Spyro asked with wide eyes.

"A little while before I met you actually. She used some kind of red yell to freeze me in place. She basically said that I have a nice ass and then she flew away." the engineer explained as if it was no big deal.

He turned around to see that Spyro and Sparx were giving him odd looks.

"I'll… take care of the apes above us." Spyro said awkwardly as he jumped up to the ledge above them.

After a short wait and about a dozen explosions, the gate that leads to the exit opened and the purple dragon glided down to Isaac and Sparx's position.

A stick of dynamite landed by their feet, but Isaac picked it up with his kinesis module and hurled it at the ape who threw it. There was an explosion and the ape's charred corpse layed a few feet away from the blast zone.

"Can you make me one of those?" Sparx asked as he pointed to the kinesis module.

"No." Isaac said quickly as they climbed the ledge to the top of the ruins in the area.

The group of three crossed a few wooden bridges and jumped over a few gaps until they reached the platform separating them from the exit. Spyro can easily glide over the gap, but Isaac was a different story.

"How am I supposed to cross that?" the engineer asked.

"Maybe Spyro could carry you as he glides across. He needs to lose some weight anyway." Sparx suggested as Spyro glared at him.

"I'm twice as tall as him and my suit weighs over sixty pounds." Isaac reasoned.

They all sat there in thought for a bit until Spyro had an idea.

"I could try to use my new ice breath to make a bridge." the purple dragon told them.

"If you think you can do it, be my guest." Isaac said with a nod as he took a step back.

Spyro unleashed a steady white mist from his maw and a frozen bridge slowly began to form. Once the dragon was completely out of energy, the bridge was finished and he ceased the flow of ice.

"Good job! I doubt this will hold me for long so I better book it." the engineer said as he prepared to run.

He ran forward onto the bridge and it immediately started to crack. It started to break apart once he was a little over halfway across. He leapt off of the bridge and onto the ledge just as the bridge fell completely. Spyro glided towards him and landed to his right with Sparx close behind.

"You okay?" the purple dragon asked.

Isaac nodded and stood up. The group of three noticed that Kane was standing there for the first time and approached him.

"The Shrine God has not been appeased since Cynder's forces came… he is not happy." the llama said with his hands rested on his hips.

"So is anybody happy around here?" Sparx asked as the llama started to walk away.

"You can't possibly face the God of the Shrine alone." Kane said as he opened the door.

"Wanna fuckin' bet? I've killed things the size of mountains." Isaac growled angrily as he balled his free hand into a fist.

"Not all of us are loners, Kane." Spyro said.

The engineer scoffed at this and mumbled something unintelligible behind his helmet.

"I'm not going alone." the purple dragon continued as he took a few steps forward.

"Maybe someday you'll learn that three heads are better than one." Spyro said as he, Sparx, and Isaac walked past the llama.

Kana watched them move past him with an unreadable expression.

"Even if they are pin heads." the dragon finished.

"Yeah… what!?/Goddammit…" Sparx and Isaac said at the same time.

Spyro glided down to the next area as the engineer successfully jumped across.

They continued this until they reached a platform with four stone pillars and a bridge that leads to some kind of ship.

"I'm not sure if I like the looks of this place…" Spyro said as he looked at the ruins.

"Now you tell me." Sparx grumbled as he flew by his brother's head.

"I've seen worse, trust me." the armored engineer assured.

'I'd rather be here than the Hydroponics Deck.' he thought to himself.

They walked across the bridge and stepped on the deck of the boat. A bunch of apes jumped out of nowhere and ran towards them with their raised weapons. Spyro proceed to shock his targets off the ship, while Isaac literally dismembered them with his plasma cutter. The boat started to move as they fought and more apes ran out from inside the ship.

"Take that!" Spyro yelled triumphantly as the last ape fell off the boat, causing Isaac to chuckle.

"Good job! That probably would've taken a lot longer without you here, Isaac." Sparx smiled as he patted one of the human's glowing visors.

The engineer shrugged and leaned against the wall to rest.

"So what's your world like?" Spyro asked as he layed on his stomach in front of the armored human.

"It's a polluted shithole. Space and mining colonies are the only way to go these days." Isaac answered with his arms crossed.

"Is that why you were in space?" the dragon asked with interest.

"No. My father is also an engineer and he left for space when I was really young. My mom raised me, but she spent most of her time at the Church of Unitology." the engineer said quietly.

"What's Unitology? Some kind of religion?" Sparx asked as he rested on Spyro's shoulder.

"Yeah. It was founded by a Native American named Michael Altman, but that's what the church and government want you to believe. I read somewhere in some classified documents that the guy was against the religion to start with and never believed in it." Isaac explained.

"So it's one big lie." Sparx understood, receiving a nod from the human.

"But why were you in space?" Spyro asked as he leaned forward slightly.

"My girlfriend, Nicole Brennan, was stationed on a mining vessel called the USG Ishimura. I volunteered to go on a mission there when there was a communication blackout from the ship." Isaac said, clearly nervous about something.

"What happened on that ship?" the purple dragon asked softly, noticing the human's uneased movements.

The armored human slowly faced the two brothers.

"The Ishimura was dark… and in the darkness, I found death. The crew was transformed into undead monsters that the scientists called… necromorphs." Isaac shivered at the memory.

Spyro and Sparx looked at each other with disturbed expressions, then back at the engineer.

"I wandered in those dark halls alone for who knows how long. I had to cut the limbs off of those people just to escape." Isaac continued.

'That's why he was dismembering those apes back there.' Spyro thought to himself.

"Did you find your girlfriend?" Sparx asked while trying to keep his lunch down.

"No." the engineer said simply as he turned away from them.

There was an awkward silence as the ship magically flew through the air. The ship docked at a new platform and Spyro stood up as Isaac pulled away from the wall.

"Well that was fun." Sparx said dully as they stepped off the boat and climbed up to the larger platform.

'It's gonna take forever to get back to the shuttle.' Isaac thought with a groan.

They wandered into a nearby cave, but it was hard to see through the darkness. The engineer used his plasma's cutter's built-in flashlight to light the way as they walked inside and turned the corner. A small group of armourdilos rolled towards them, but Spyro easily burned them to death with his fire breath.

They entered another hallway to see a log swinging right at them. Isaac quickly raised his left arm and fired a stasis shot at it. The log turned blue and moved much slower than before.

"Move!" Isaac shouted as they ran to the other side of the hall.

They made it to the other end just as the log regained its normal speed.

"I can't wait to get outta here." Sparx panted as they turned left.

Spyro noticed a stone button hidden behind a cluster of wooden spikes. He slashed the environmental hazards away and headbashed the button into the floor. The stone structures blocking the exit moved slightly so that it could be climbed over. Spyro jumped up and helped Isaac up.

"You're gonna be ripped by the end of this." Sparx commented as they jumped to the other side.

"That's not a bad thing." the purple dragon smiled.

The three companions continued forward as Isaac lit the way with his plasma cutter.


	4. Imminent Rescue

**What's up readers? I've got this chapter up and ready to be read. I would like to answer some questions that an anonymous reviewer mentioned. First off, I wrote that the suit weighs about sixty pounds because that's what it said on the wiki. Secondly, Isaac didn't have thrusters built into his RIG in the first Dead Space; he relied on his magnetic boots and simply jumping form surface to surface. Like what Zeus said, the thrusters wouldn't be able to support him anyway. I hope that clears some things up and enjoy the chapter!**

Chapter 4: Imminent Rescue

Almost as soon as the three companions entered the next room, they were attacked by a pack of armourdilos. Isaac stomped down at the closest enemy and crushed it's skull while Spyro burned the rest with his fire breath.

"Wow, you guys are unstoppable!" Sparx praised once the fighting was all over.

"Don't jinx it." Isaac said seriously as he reloaded his tool.

Spyro smashed the nearby spirit gems and absorbed half of the shards while Isaac took the rest. The engineer spotted a stone button on the floor and curb stomped it with an echoing grunt. Once he did, a stone cube raised from the floor on the side of the room, allowing them to reach the next area.

Without a word, they climbed over the stone slabs and jumped down to the next room. The room contained no enemies, but various clusters of spirit gems.

"Well this helps." Spyro smiled as he got to work smashing half of them.

Isaac didn't comment and stomped on his half. They absorbed and collected their goods and looked at the stone button on the floor. Isaac curb stomped on it and more stone slabs rose in the previous room.

'What the fuck…' Isaac thought grumpily as they climbed back into the previous room and climbed over the new slabs.

They jumped down into a hallway and ran into a room on the side just before a log smashed into them. Spyro horn dived onto another button as two armourdilos wobbled up to them.

"Screw this." Isaac said angrily as he took out his ripper and prepped the saw blade.

He activated the miniature gravity tethered saw and commenced to cut off every limb on the two enemies. The engineer deactivated the mining tool once the armourdilos were dead and calmly walked into the next hallway.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that." Sparx said as he refrained himself from throwing up.

The group of three walked down the hallway and took a left.

"Wait! Those are pressure plates." Spyro said as he pointed at the stone tables on floor.

Isaac wordlessly raised his left hand and used his stasis module on the pressure plates. The group ran across and looked back as the plates finally slid down and a bunch of arrows shot out of the walls.

"I'm glad you can slow things down." Sparx gulped as he watched the arrows shoot out in the hall behind them.

Isaac shrugged and they entered the next room to see a stone grunt running up to them. The engineer took out his contact beam, charged it, and fired a blast of kinetic energy at the stone creature. It flew into the wall behind it and broke apart on impact.

"Why do all these things want us dead so badly?" Isaac asked as he put away the contact beam and equipped his plasma cutter.

"They're working for Cynder. They are trying to kill me because I'm the legendary purple dragon." Spyro sighed as he sat down.

"They're probably after you because you are with me right now." he added as he started to mope.

"Don't feel bad, buddy. We can make everything better." Sparx tried to comfort his brother.

The dragon just sighed again and continued to mope. Isaac wiped some of the blood away from his glove on the wall and rested his hand on Spyro's shoulder.

"I know that things are tough on you right now, but it sounds like you're needed right now… and I'll help you every step of the way." the engineer promised.

Spyro looked up and stared at the human's glowing blue visors.

"Thank you… but why?" he asked, baffled at the engineer's kindness.

"Because I know how it feels to be thrown into the shittiest of situations." Isaac said as he stood up.

Spyro smiled and stood up as well.

"We should probably get going." Sparx said as he pointed down the hall.

Spyro and Isaac nodded in agreement. They walked to the other side of the room and maneuvered their way through a short stone hallway. They found themselves in a much larger room with grass growing on the ground. Most of the left side of the room was elevated so they didn't bother to look around too much.

"I was kinda expecting more enemies here." Spyro said as the group of three walked forward.

"It's the calm before the storm, trust me." Isaac assured whilst taking out his pulse rifle.

They took a right and were nearly thrown off their feet by two swinging logs. Isaac was able to use stasis on them before they connected and the group quickly ran across to the exit. They made it to a large clearing with Kane standing in the center.

"I have to admit, you've done better than I thought possible." the Atlawa said as they approached.

"Saying that had to hurt." Sparx gloated with a smile.

"More than you can imagine." Kane agreed.

Isaac chose not to comment and scanned his only real gun around the area to make sure they wouldn't be attacked by any enemies.

"There are some things you should know about the Shrine before you enter…" the llama said seriously.

They all looked up at the sky to see Cynder flying over the Shrine across the wooden bridge. Spyro watched with worry, Isaac aimed his pulse rifle at her the whole time, and Sparx stared with his mouth wide open is shock.

"And I think we're done here…" Sparx said, clearly not wanting to stay there any longer.

"Not before we rescue Cyril." the purple dragon told his brother.

Isaac lowered his weapon once Cynder was too far for his pulse rounds to reach. He groaned quietly in frustration and turned to face the llama before them.

"The Atlawa Shrine has been desecrated and the God of the Shrine has not been given tribute since Cynder's forces arrived. But if you can subdue his anger, the balance will be returned… and my people can come home." Kane told them all.

"That's fine, but I came to free Cyril." Spyro informed him.

"You must go through the God of the Shrine to free him." the Atlawa added.

"Knew you were going to say that." Sparx declared.

Isaac nodded in agreement and the group of three made their way towards the bridge. They made sure to stay close to each other as the bridge swayed slightly under their combined weight. The wood creaked under Isaac's metal boots, but it held strong.

Once they reached the other end, they climbed the stone stairs with caution. They looked down at the ditch to see Cyril, the Ice Guardian, laying unconscious on a flat rock.

"Be careful. Remember last time." Spyro told Sparx, remembering his fight with the Ice King back at Dante's Freezer.

"I know, I know, but Cynder left and I don't see any Ice Kings hanging around this place." Sparx said indifferently.

Almost as soon as he said that however, a pile of stones in the ditch shifted. It slowly raised from the earth, revealing a large humanoid creature made entirely of stone.

"Dumbass!" Isaac yelled at Sparx as he jumped down and aimed his pulse rifle at the Stone Sentinel.

The Atlawa's God pounded it's chest like an ape and roared at them, glaring at them with its glowing yellow eyes.

"When will I learn? When things look good, run for the hills." Sparx groaned as the new threat took a couple steps towards them.

Spyro jumped down beside the engineer and adopted a combat stance. Isaac instinctively started firing at the glowing yellow orbs, but his attack had no effect, much to his surprise.

The Stone Sentinel tried to strike at them with its left arm, but they easily dodged it. Spyro released a torrent of flames at its arm, for it lodged into the ground. It quickly reeled back in pain as Isaac and Spyro put some distance between them and it.

It used it's chain linked limb to try to hit them again, but the space engineer took out his plasma cutter and fired. The Stone Sentinel roared in pain as the chain link was cut in half, severing the left arm.

The now one-armed God resorted to kicking at them, but the two heroes easily dodged it's clumsy attacks. Spyro commenced to shoot fire bomb, after fire bomb at it until he was completely out of energy.

The Stone Sentinel wobbled in place for a bit, but it finally fell forward and collapsed. Spyro and Isaac panted as they looked at the downed creature.

"You have subdued the God of the Shrine, restored balance to seasons, the land, our world." Kane said in amazement as he and his people approached them.

Cyril woke up and looked at the Atlawa, then Spyro, and finally at Isaac. He was almost memorized as he stared into the four horizontal visors that are glowing proudly, greatly contrasting with the dark green foliage.

"The Atlawas want to worship you now." Kane continued as he stepped towards them.

Spyro and Isaac rested on the flat rock that Cyril once rested on as they listened.

"Worship? Okay, now that's what I'm talkin' about… I've never gotten he respect I deserve… the praise that should be mine." Sparx basked in his glory as the Atlawas bowed down to them.

"Sparx… shut… the fuck… up." Isaac hissed behind his helmet as he raised his plasma cutter slightly, feeling very unnerved by the holy attention they were receiving.

"That's very nice, Kane, but we have to get back to our home. Figure out how to stop Cynder for good." Spyro changed topics.

Sparx was about to say something to the Atlawas, but he shut up once he saw Isaac aiming his signature tool directly at him.

"Yes, yes, old boy, we'd like nothing more than to stay and be part of your primitive, barbaric society, but duty calls, duty calls…" Cyril said in a British-like accent.

"Well that was rude." Isaac mumbled quietly so that only Spyro and Kane could hear him.

"If you must, you must. But know that you're now part of the Atlawa tribe… one of us." Kane told Spyro and Isaac with a happy smile.

"I am the mighty Spar…" the dragonfly gloated to the tribe.

"GODDAMMIT SPARX!" Isaac yelled angrily at Sparx as he stood up, causing the dragonfly to flinch and shut up.

Spyro chuckled at their bickering and jumped off the rock as well.

"By the way… you were right." Kane said warmly.

"About what?" Spyro asked as Isaac, Sparx, and Cyril watched them.

"Maybe three heads are better than one. Even if one of them belongs to an annoying mosquito." the llama clarified as he led the group of four down the clearing.

"Mosquito, me? Is that… oh." Sparx finally understood as Isaac nodded in agreement.

"I actually have a quick question." the engineer spoke up.

"What is it, friend?" Kane asked as he faced the armored human.

"My shuttle crashed somewhere in the jungle…" Isaac activated his locator to show them what direction his space ship was at. "I need some copper in order to fix it."

"No problem." Kane said before clapping his hands.

Two Atlawas ran up to them, each carrying a small leather bag of copper.

"This will work, thanks." Isaac said as he shouldered the bags with a quiet grunt.

"Climb on my back, old boy, and I'll give you a lift to your ship." Cyril offered as he bent down so he could mount him like a horse.

'This will end well.' the engineer thought sarcastically as he did as instructed.

Cyril was prepared for the heavy weight however and was able to lift him without too much trouble. Isaac activated his locator again to show them the way and they all took flight towards the shuttle.

"Goodbye, Kane!" Spyro called over his shoulder before they were out of earshot.

They flew over the now peaceful Tall Plains, watching the scenery as they flew by.

"So what are your names?" Cyril asked his saviors.

"My name is Spyro and this is my brother, Sparx." Spyro introduced him and his brother.

"Isaac." the engineer stated, not feeling very talkative at the moment.

"He's a human from a planet called Earth. He came here on a space ship." Spyro told the Ice Guardian.

Cyril nodded in understanding and continued flying in silence. Once they reached the clearing with the crashed shuttle, they dragons landed.

Isaac hopped off the ice dragon's back with a grunt. He set the leather bags on the ground and pulled the metal covering off the side of the ship, exposing the damaged wires.

"That looks very complex." Spyro observed as they watched the human start the repairs.

"Where did you acquire the knowledge to fix such contraptions?" Cyril questioned as he watched with interest.

"School and experience." Isaac answered as finished fixing the wires.

He securely placed the metal covering over the wires and tossed the leather bags into the shuttle.

"So… does it fly now?" Sparx asked with his arms crossed, causing the human to sigh.

"Yeah… but I won't be able to go into space without a power node or some other source of power for the shuttle's main thrusters." the engineer answered.

"But you can still fly it, correct?" Cyril asked for calcification.

"…Yes." Isaac nodded, not sure where he was going with this.

"Then you can fly with us back to the Temple. I will be able to pass on my knowledge of ice to Spyro and you can make plans with the other Guardians." the Ice Guardian explained as if it was the best plan in the world.

"Just let me power it up and we'll be off." Isaac shrugged as he entered the space ship.

He heard footsteps behind him and looked over his shoulder to see Spyro and Sparx behind him.

"Do you mind if we stay here with you? I'm kinda tired from all the fighting." Spyro asked.

Isaac shrugged and motioned for them to go into the cockpit. He closed the hatch and walked in behind them.

Spyro sat in the passenger seat as Sparx rested on top of his head. Isaac sat in the driver's seat and typed a few holographic keys. The two brothers watched in amazement as the lights came on and the engine started. The engineer gave Cyril a thumbs up, signaling that they were ready.

Cyril nodded and took flight towards the Temple. Isaac typed a few more holographic keys and the shuttle started to rise off the ground and trailed behind the Guardian of Ice.

The space shuttle followed the ice dragon as Cynder watched in the distance. She took flight and flew in the opposite direction to check on her last hostage, the Guardian of Earth.


	5. Things in the Darkness

**I got a new chapter for you mother-truckers! I apologize for the lack of updates recently, but school and personal stuff has been keeping me busy lately. I'm hoping to post at least two chapters before the three day weekend is over. I hope you like the chapter and remember to review!**

Chapter 5: Things in the Darkness

Isaac flew the shuttle as Spyro and Sparx sat next to him and looked around the ship's interior with interest. Cyril flew a little ways ahead as to lead the engineer to the Temple. The landscape whizzed by as they flew by the forests below. All was quiet and peaceful.

"What's this thing do?" Sparx asked as he reached for one of the red holographic buttons.

"Don't touch that!" Isaac barked in annoyance.

"Sparx…" Spyro groaned as he rested his head on his paw.

Sparx crossed his arms and pouted as the engineer rolled his eyes behind his helmet.

"So… what's space like?" Spyro asked, wanting to break the awkward silence.

"It's dark, cold, and dangerous. It can be peaceful at times though. Gives you time to think about things" Isaac shrugged as the forest below was replaced by a swamp with tall mushrooms instead of trees.

"Have you been on other planets besides yours and this one?" the purple dragon questioned with interest.

"I don't wanna talk about it." the engineer stated emotionlessly, remembering his experience on Aegis VII and that damned Marker that caused all the horror.

Spyro gave a sympathetic look and nodded in understanding.

"How does this thing fly anyway? It doesn't have any wings and I doubt it uses magic." Sparx asked, wanting to change topics.

"There are rocket thrusters behind the shuttle and a built in ShockPoint Drive system." Isaac explained as if it was no big deal.

"Um… what?" the dragonfly asked in obvious confusion, resulting in making the engineer sigh.

"Science." Isaac said very simply.

"Oh." Sparx said, quickly losing interest in the topic he started in the first place.

"How are you able to press those buttons? They look like they are made of light." Spyro asked as he looked at the yellow buttons in front of Isaac.

"They are redirected light, yes. Basically there is a motion sensor built into the holographic projector that scans for movement where the buttons are." the engineer explained as he pushed a few buttons to pilot the shuttle.

"That's actually pretty interesting." Spyro smiled at the new information, resulting in making the human chuckle.

The group of three noticed Cyril landed in front of a stone building below. Isaac slowed the shuttle down and gently landed in a clearing in front of the Temple. The holographic buttons dimmed and the engineer stood up. Spyro also got up and followed the human out of the ship.

"Well that was super." Sparx joked as he flew behind them, but he was ignored.

Isaac tensed when he saw two new dragons talking with Cyril, but relaxed when he saw that they weren't hostile.

"My, my, what is this fascinating contraption?" the large yellow dragon asked quickly as he, the red dragon, and Cyril approached them.

"Ugh, this Isaac's space ship." Spyro answered awkwardly.

"A space ship?! You've been into space! Why that is marvelous, stupendous, exquisite…!" the yellow dragon's rambling was silenced when Cyril held his snout shut.

"I'm assuming you are Isaac." the red dragon said calmly to the armored engineer.

He nodded in confirmation as he shifted the weight from one foot to the other.

"Allow me to introduce ourselves. I am Ignitus, Guardian of Fire. Our yellow friend here is Volteer, Guardian of Electricity." the red dragon greeted with a smile.

'This guy looks like he hasn't slept in days… I can relate." Isaac thought to himself as he saw the fire dragon's tired look.

"Let us speak further within the Temple." Ignitus said as he turned around and walked towards the stone building.

The group and Isaac followed the fire dragon inside and entered a large room that has a small pool with green water in it. As they all walked inside, Volteer never ceased to stop questioning Isaac about how his ship worked and how he could see through the glowing blue lights of his visors.

"Yes, yes, Volteer, I see that months of tortured captivity has done nothing to slow that electric tongue of yours from incessantly wagging." Cyril finally cut in.

"It's just that it's so exciting, exhilarating, enchanting, enthralling…" Volteer exclaimed happily.

"All right, no more thesaurus for you, pal." Sparx stopped the Electric Guardian's rambling.

"All of you please be quiet." Ignitus interrupted the pointless conversation.

'These people are so strange.' Isaac thought with a small chuckle.

"It is certainly encouraging that Spyro, with Isaac's assistance, has been able to free you to allow this reunion, but haven't we forgotten someone?" Ignitus asked everyone.

"Yes, yes, of course… Terrador." Cyril recalled.

"Precisely. Now how do we proceed?" the Fire Guardian questioned.

"Ugh… who's Terrador?" Isaac cut in.

"He is the Guardian of Earth." Ignitus answered with an apologetic look.

"I believe I can help, Ignitus." Cyril answered Ignitus' earlier question.

The ice dragon then turned to face Spyro.

"Well, young chap, since you learned a few things about ice on Tall Plains, I suggest we adjourn to the Training Room so that I can teach you some more. The legacy of the great ice dragons of yore, my ancestors who come from the best of the best of this somewhat bedraggled lineage… is long and storied" Cyril said pridefully.

"Shut up and teach him already… fuck man!" Isaac yelled in annoyance.

"Humph, very well. Follow me, Spyro." the Ice Guardian said grumpily, before leading Spyro and Sparx into the next room for training.

"Your use of wording is extreme, but necessary." Volteer sped as he gave Isaac an approving look.

"Anyway, I wish to discuss you and your background." Ignitus told the human as he sat down to give the Isaac his full attention.

"All you need to know about me is that I've seen a lot of shit I wish I didn't." Isaac said dismissively and sternly.

Ignitus sighed at his response, but spoke nothing of the subject.

"I know you've ignored all my questions thus far, but could you explain to us what that weapon you're carrying is? It fascinates me." Volteer quickly asked, barely containing his excitement as he bounced in place.

Isaac sighed in defeat and held up his plasma cutter for the two dragons to see.

"This is called a 211-V Plasma Cutter. It's a mineral cutter that was made by a company called Schofield Tools. The tool uses plasma energy batteries to fire a cohesive pulse-stream to cut either vertically or horizontally into solid rock… or flesh." The engineer explained, whispering the last part.

"So it's not a weapon, but you use it as such. That's very clever of you." Ignitus praised with an impressed look.

"It hasn't let me down yet." Isaac said as he lowered his tool.

"What other appliances to you have within your possession?" Volteer asked, his excitement never fading.

Isaac set the plasma cutter down and took out his ripper.

"This is an RC-DS Remote Control Disc Ripper. It was also made by Schofield Tools. Basically, the tool fires a diamond-coated tungsten blade and holds it in place via gravity tether. It's primary purpose is slice through solid rock to get to needed minerals." Isaac explained.

He put the ripper away and equipped his contact beam.

"This big guy is the C99 Supercollider Contact Beam. It utilizes kinetic energy and discharges it to obliterate anything that comes in contact with said energy. It's basically used to pound and soften hard minerals and rock into smaller pieces." the engineer told the two dragons.

Lastly, he showed them the pulse rifle.

"This is the only real weapon in my inventory, the SWS Motorized Pulse Rifle, designed by Earth Gov. It is a military-grade, triple barreled assault rifle that fires ultra low calibre rounds at hypersonic speeds. It's best used against a crowd of enemies or a fast moving target." he explained as he loaded in a new clip.

Isaac put away the tools and picked up his favored plasma cutter.

"That is quiet the armory you have their, Isaac." Volteer said in amazement.

The engineer shrugged, not seeing the big deal about his tools and rifle.

"Well, we are not going to have the final preparations ready until Cyril has finished instructing the ways of ice to Spyro, so you may do as you please until then." the Fire Guardian told the human.

Isaac nodded and left the Pool of Visions room. He walked outside and then entered his ship. There was a small beep as he pressed a blue holographic button and a small work bench slid out of the wall.

The engineer took out all his empty thermal clips and spirit gems. He crushed the glowing gems into small dust-like particles, heated them, and poured the glowing ooze of energy into the clips.

'These will work.' Isaac thought as he stored all the new ammunition into his inventory.

"Isaac…" a female voice was heard behind him.

Isaac quickly turned around to see a woman staring at him with hatred. She is wearing a bloodstained medical jumpsuit and has white glowing eyes.

"N-Nicole?" Isaac asked with a shaky voice as he took a few steps back.

"Make… us… whole…" Nicole whispered as she walked towards him with her arms stretched out.

Isaac screamed in fear and held his hands over his face. After a few seconds of nothing happening, he lowered his hands to see that he was alone.

"I… I am going insane." Isaac thought aloud as he stared at his bloodstained hands.

The engineer sighed tiredly and grabbed his plasma cutter. He exited the shuttle and walked back into the Temple to see that Spyro has finished his training and the dragons were talking amongst each other.

"So what are you saying, Ignitus? Yes, your hypothesis is an intriguing one, but it is perplexing to the extreme." Volteer asked, not noticing the traumatized engineer's arrival.

"Huh?" Sparx asked in confusion.

"He says he doesn't know what he's talking about." Spyro clarified.

"Oh. Dude, I never know what he's saying." the dragonfly complained.

'He'd never last on a space station like the Sprawl.' Isaac thought to himself, remembering the time he visited there with Nicole before the Ishimura incident.

"What I'm saying is that Cynder is harnessing the Guardians' power to unlock a portal that must never be opened." Ignitus explained to everyone.

"Why? What's behind the portal?" Spyro asked.

"That doesn't concern you right now." Ignitus answered.

"Bullshit it doesn't." Isaac growled under his breath.

"What does concern you is getting to Munitions Forge." the Fire Guardian continued, ignoring Isaac's earlier statement.

"Are you fucking kidding me?! Spyro just saved your asses and trained in two breaths in one day and you want him to do more!?" the engineer yelled in bewilderment.

"I know it's a lot to ask for, but we must move quickly." Ignitus reasoned.

"He's just a kid goddammit! Look at him, he's exhausted!" Isaac argued motioning towards the purple dragon next to him.

The three Guardians looked at Spyro to see that he did look extremely tired and was struggling to stay awake. Ignitus sighed and looked at Isaac again.

"Alright, you made your point, but I want you two to leave early tomorrow morning." he told the human and purple dragon.

Isaac and Spyro nodded and left the vision room. Sparx decided to go find someplace alone to sleep for the night.

"Thanks, Isaac. I don't think I could've made the trip and saved Terrador in the state I'm in." Spyro thanked with a smile.

"No problem. Do you have anywhere to sleep?" Isaac asked as they walked.

"Yeah, I was given an empty room to sleep in." the purple dragon answered with a yawn.

Isaac stopped and stared at Spyro from behind his helmet, causing said dragon to stop as well.

"Fuck that, follow me." Isaac said as he led the purple dragon outside.

Spyro followed the engineer into his ship and into the cockpit. Isaac picked him up and set him on the passenger seat. He left the room for a bit, but came back with a fire blanket and hospital pillow.

"It's not much, but it's better than sleeping on the floor." Isaac said as he placed the pillow under Spyro's head and pulled the blanket over him.

"Thank you, but where will you sleep?" Spyro asked, perplexed by the engineer's kindness.

"I'll be right next to you, I promise." Isaac answered as he sat on the driver's seat.

The purple dragon smiled thankfully and closed his eyes to sleep. Isaac didn't bother taking his helmet off as he leaned back in his seat. He slowly closed his eyes and fell asleep as well. The lights dimmed from lack of motional activity as they slept in peace.

* * *

Cynder has been flying around Munitions Forge for awhile now. Terrador is securely being drained of his elemental energy and he has no way of escape. It is late in the night and the dragoness had nothing better to do at the moment. She smiled when she started to think about the human from earlier that day.

'I wonder what that creature looks like behind all those armor plates and fabric. That was a really nice butt he had.' Cynder thought with a chuckle as she flew through the night air.

She frowned however when she started to hear a static-like sound in her head. After a few seconds, she could hear a computer-like female voice singing in her head.

_Twinkle twinkle little star,_

_how I wonder what you are._

_Up above the world so high,_

_like a diamond in the sky._

_When the blazing sun is gone,_

_when the nothing shines upon._

_Then you show your little light,_

_twinkle twinkle all the night._

_Then the traveler in the dark,_

_thanks you for your little spark._

_He could not see which way to go,_

_if you did not twinkle so…_

_When the blazing sun is gone,_

_when the nothing shines upon._

_Though I know not what you are,_

_twinkle twinkle little star…_

Cynder breathed heavily and shivered as the foreboding voice sung its song. She felt beads of sweat drip off her forehead as she landed to rest.

'What was that? Why do I feel so scared all of a sudden?" she asked as she looked around the area with a fearful expression.

This was the most frightened she's ever felt since she was corrupted as a hatchling. She groaned and rubbed her temples with a paw.

"Come on Cynder, get a hold of yourself." the dragoness said quietly.

Cynder sighed thankfully when the static finally went away and she could think clearly again. She flexed her wings and prepared to take flight once again.

'It's probably just a side effect from getting corrupted.' she reasoned in her head as she took flight and flew over the moonlight.


	6. Another Journey

**New chapter for you readers! Are you happy now? Since this is a Dead Space crossover, I'm gonna start adding horror elements to this story. This will include grotesque descriptions of particularly brutal actions, those creepy-ass whispers in the dark, and plenty of psychological happenings. Oh and USAF ParaJumper, I answered your question in the first scene. I hope you all like the chapter!**

Chapter 6: Another Journey

Spyro woke up to the sound of soft banging in the other room. He opened his eyes and looked to his left to see that Isaac wasn't there.

Confused, he pushed the fire blanket off, stood up, and followed the banging noise into the room behind him. The door slid open once he pressed the holographic "open" button, revealing Isaac working at his small work bench.

"Sorry if I woke you, I've been busy working on this." the engineer apologized as he fiddled with his little project.

"It's okay; I needed to wake up anyway. What are you doing anyway?" the purple dragon asked curiously.

"Just one second… there we go, done." Isaac said as he finished building two dark gray metal plates; one of which has a vertical glass crevice in the center.

The engineer bent down in front of Spyro and attached the metal plates to his back and chest. The dragon craned his neck to look at the strange object. His eyes widened in shock when he saw that the crevice running along his spine had eight glowing blue bars, not unlike Isaac's.

"Do you like it?" the engineer asked as he stood up again.

"What is it?" Spyro asked in wonder.

Isaac turned around and pointed at his RIG with a thumb as he looked over his shoulder.

"It's called Resource Integration Gear or a RIG for short. Those bars keep track of the amount of health you have. The metal plate on your chest is a small computer. I didn't have the supplies to give you all its perks, but we'll be able to communicate, via holographic displays, with each other if we get separated." the armored human explained before fully facing the purple dragon again.

"Wow… thank you." Spyro smiled happily, amazed that the he would take the time to build him such an advanced piece of technology.

"No problem. Come on; let's go see what Ignitus wanted to say last night." Isaac said as he rested his hand on the purple dragon's shoulder.

They both left the shuttle through the hatch and entered the Temple. They walked into the Pool of Visions room to see the three Guardians talking amongst each other.

"Greetings you two, have you slept well?" Ignitus asked warmly once he noticed them.

"Yeah we did." Spyro replied with a smile.

Isaac simply shrugged. He was still pissed at the fire dragon for trying to get Spyro to fight when he clearly wasn't up for it.

"That's good to hear. Would you like something to eat before you depart?" the Fire Guardian offered as he motioned to the deer meat on the table to their left.

"Yes, thank you." the purple dragon said politely before eating.

"Why young chap, if you wish to eat, you will have to remove that helmet of yours." Cyril told Isaac.

"Not hungry." the engineer shrugged.

In reality, he simply didn't want to take his helmet off. He felt a sort of connection to it after what happened back on the Ishimura. His helmet and armor was like a second skin to him.

'He really doesn't want to show his face.' the Ice Guardian observed in his head.

"As I was saying from last night, you two must travel to Munitions Forge and free Terrador before Cynder can create another crystal from his powers." Ignitus got back on topic from last night.

"…and before the volcano blows it's…" Volteer started speedily.

"That's enough, Volteer, there's plenty of time… plenty of time." the Fire Guardian assured.

"So we have no time at all." Isaac stated, speaking from experience.

"Plenty of time? What, we need more time to have terrible things happen to us?" Sparx asked as he flew into the room.

Everyone simply stared at the dragonfly with a bored expression.

"Why didn't we just stay in Tall Plains? Oh, I'm a big deal there." he continued dramatically.

"Quit bitchen', Sparx." Isaac growled as Spyro finished eating.

Sparx crossed his arms and mumbled something incoherent under his breath.

"So what is Munitions Forge exactly?" the engineer questioned curiously.

"Munitions Forge is an island dominated by Boyzitbig, an unstable volcano that makes life on the surface very dicey. The locals, who live underground, have been forced to mine the metals that Cynder uses to forge her army's weapons." Ignitus explained.

'Those metals might be useful.' Isaac thought to himself.

"What are the locals called?" Spyro asked.

"They're called Manweersmalls." the Fire Guardian replied.

"Are you fucking serious? Who comes up with this shit?" Isaac blurted out.

"Do I need to write that down?" Sparx added.

"Rumor has it that Cynder is holding Terrador somewhere in the mines. We know she's using him to power the last of the crystals she needs to open the portal." Ignitus explained, ignoring Isaac and Sparx's comments.

The Fire Guardian led them all outside and towards the shuttle at this point.

"Free him before she gets the chance." the fire dragon finished.

"Right. Come on Spyro, Sparx, let's go sever some limbs." Isaac said dully as he boarded his shuttle.

"We'll be back soon with Terrador." Spyro told the Guardians before he and Sparx boarded as well.

They made their way into the cockpit and sat down at their seats. Isaac typed in a few holographic keys and the engine roared to life. He typed in a few more keys and the ship slowly rose from the ground.

"Remarkable…" Volteer gasped in amazement from outside as the ships floated over their heads.

Isaac steered the ship and began flying to their next destination, Munitions Forge.

* * *

Cynder is resting on a large platform over the underground mines and overseeing the work. All the miners were painstakingly mining for metals that she needed. She smiled when she saw an ape whipping an exhausted manweersmall.

'I'll never get tired of this.' she thought to herself with a chuckle as she listened to the manweersmall's yelling and whimpering.

"Cyyynnndeeer…" a female whisper was heard.

Cynder frowned and whipped her head around, looking for the source of the voice.

"Who's there!" she demanded harshly.

"We're all going to die…" a male voice whispered.

"I said show yourself!" the dragoness snarled as she adopted a combat stance.

For a long moment, there was silence. Cynder eased her tense muscles and looked back to the work down below.

'What was that? Hallucinations?' she asked herself in her head.

Her eyes widened when she heard wet gurgling behind her. She slowly turned around and just barely stopped herself from throwing up on the spot.

There is some kind of creature in front of her. It is standing on two legs, naked and hairless. The skin has been ravaged and mutilated beyond repair. Its feet are swollen and deformed. The creature's stomach has been ripped open, revealing two small arms made from the intestines. Its two natural arms have been elongated and bone scythes detrude out of the palms of its hands. The monster's jaw is missing completely and its pupiless eyes stared at Cynder with nothing, but animalistic hunger.

The monster roared as it charged her, swinging its scythes in the air with the intent to decapitate her. Cynder gasped and shot a fear blast at the creature, but it had no effect and kept charging.

Just when it was about to slice into her throat, there was a white flash and nothing was there. Cynder panted in terror as she looked around for the mysterious creature, but it was nowhere in sight.

"I'm… I'm seeing things that aren't real…" she realized in horror.

She quickly took flight and flew away to check on the Earth Guardian, hoping to take her mind off the strange phenomenon she just experienced.

'What did that armored creature see to make him see and hear these things?' Cynder asked herself, remembering when she used her banshee shriek on Isaac and absorbed some of his fears.

She calmed her breathing to prevent herself from having a heart attack and concentrated on flying.

* * *

"Sparx, if you try to touch something one more time, I will blast you into space!" Isaac yelled when he caught the dragonfly trying to press more buttons for the fifth time in a row.

"That sounds like fun!" Sparx said enthusiastically.

"You can't breathe in space." Spyro sighed as he rested his head on his paw.

"Oh…" the yellow dragonfly said in disappointment.

Isaac shook his head and focused on flying. After about half an hour of continuous flight, they all saw an island with a large mountain in the horizon. It slowly got bigger and bigger as the shuttle approached. The lava rivers could easily be seen pouring from the mountain's sides, even from their distance.

"Boy is it big!" Sparx said in shock.

"Please shut up…" the engineer begged.

"Boy, it's big! But no time for sightseeing, Sparx." Spyro said, also amazed at the mountains size.

Isaac typed in a few holographic keys and the shuttle gently landed on a natural platform.

"Alright, so what do you think we should do?" the human asked as he leaned back in his seat.

"As much as I don't like it, I think we need to split up. It'll be faster finding Terrador if we do." the purple dragon replied hesitantly.

"Sounds like a plan!" Sparx exclaimed with a big smile as he flew to Spyro's side.

"I actually think that you should stay with Isaac, he needs the moral support." Spyro cut in, just wanting a break from his brother's craziness for once.

"What!?" Sparx and Isaac yelled at the same time.

"Good luck!" Spyro called before quickly exiting the shuttle and closing the hatch behind him.

"Dammit…" Isaac grumbled as he typed in a few keys and took flight again.

"So…" Sparx broke the silence, trying to start a pointless conversation.

"Shut up." the engineer quickly interrupted him, followed by a groan from the dragonfly.

He flew the shuttle to the other side of the mountain and landed behind some tall rocks. He did this intentionally so that the apes would have a harder time finding the ship. He typed in a few buttons and the engine shut off.

"Let's go." Isaac said as he stood up and equipped his plasma cutter.

"Lead the way, big guy." Sparx said with a smile as he politely motioned for him to go ahead.

The engineer rolled his eyes behind the helmet and led them out of the cockpit and through the hatch.

"Now this is what I'm used to." Isaac commented as he looked at all the machines used for mining surrounding them.

"Super. Now let's go find Terrador and get out of this place." Sparx complained as he fanned himself in an attempt to keep cool.

'Good thing I have this suit.' Isaac thought with a smile behind his helmet.

He activated the holographic projector on his chest and waited for a few seconds. The blue static quickly shaped into a real=time display of Spyro.

"Hey Spyro, can you here me?" the engineer asked.

"Yeah… wow this thing is strange." the blue tinted dragon replied from the other end, causing Isaac to chuckle.

"How's it looking over there?" the human questioned.

"It's going fine so far. I think I already found an entrance to the mines below." Spyro informed him.

"Good. We just landed over here. We're looking for a way in now." Isaac said as he walked down a dirt path.

"Okay, I'll keep you and Sparx informed." The dragon stated before the transition was ended.

"Well that thing will come in handy!" Sparx said with a nod.

"It's a lifesaver." Isaac confirmed as they turned a corner.

He almost immediately saw an ape, but he quickly cut its head off with a shot from his plasma cutter.

"Have I ever told you that you're scary?" Sparx asked as the engineer simply stepped over the corpse and continued on his way.

"Probably, but I didn't care." Isaac shrugged.

"You! Stop!" an ape yelled as he and two other apes ran toward them.

Isaac quickly took out his ripper and sliced the apes' legs and arms off in a display of gore and blood.

The engineer heard a buzzing noise and saw a small swarm of Fire Beetles flying straight at them.

"Ah! Don't let 'em eat me!" Sparx cried as he hid behind Isaac's head.

'They're not that scary.' Isaac thought to himself as he put away his ripper in favor for the pulse rifle.

The engineer took aim and releases a continuous burst of fire at the hostile beetles. They all exploded in a cloud of yellow-green blood once the bullets connected, but more kept coming.

He noticed that they were coming from a hive a little ways away and started shooting that instead. The hive was easily destroyed by the hail of automatic gunfire and Isaac was able to kill the rest of the Fire Beetles.

The armored human reloaded his pulse rifle and switched it for his plasma cutter. He aimed the tool in front of him as he wandered down the stone path.

"Search and rescue…" a female voice whispered in his head.

Isaac ignored the voice and kept walking. He knew that the voices wouldn't hurt him as long as he didn't listen to them.

"Hey, can we enter the mines through there?" Sparx asked as he pointed to a tunnel that is meant for mine carts.

"Yeah, but it's probably dangerous… fuck it." the engineer said before entering the tunnel with his tool at the ready.

The human and dragonfly entered the dark cavern as the plasma cutter's built-in flashlight lit the way ahead of them.


	7. Mining 101

**Hello everyone, I have written a new chapter for you all. There's gonna be some crazy stuff happening in this chapter, so enjoy and remember to review or PM!**

Chapter 7: Mining 101

Isaac led the way and illuminated the hallway with the flashlight of his plasma cutter. His steady breaths echoed across the dark halls. All was quiet and peaceful.

"Um…. Isaac?" Sparx asked as he flew by the engineer's side.

"What the fuck do you want now, Sparx?" the human groaned as they moved forward.

"I was just wondering what you do for fun in space… sheesh." the dragonfly said grumpily.

"Well, sometimes we'd play Zero-G Basketball." the human recalled with a shrug.

"Zero-G?" Sparx asked in confusion.

"Zero-gravity." Isaac clarified.

"Ah, I see." the dragonfly said in understanding.

The duo entered a large open spaced room with various lava pools and machines used for mining. An ape saw their arrival and charged forward, only to be beheaded by a blast of plasma energy.

Isaac quickly reloaded his plasma cutter and curb stomped a cluster of spirit gems with an echoing grunt. He collected the shards and they continued forward into the next room. They were met by loud screeches as a half dozen apes charged towards them with their swords raised.

"Mommy!" Sparx cried in fear as Isaac equipped his pulse rifle.

The engineer took aim and mowed down the charging apes. Blood and severed limbs flew off the offenders as they were picked off one by one. Once they were all lying dead, the duo felt a tremor and a holographic image of Spyro' face appeared in front of Isaac and Sparx.

"Pretty light…" Sparx mumbled as if he was in a trance.

"Hey Isaac, I just met a Manweersmall named Mole-Yair. He's the leader of the locals here." the dragon informed them.

"And?" Isaac encouraged.

"Boyzitbig is just about ready to blow. We need to save the Manweersmalls and Terrador quickly before it erupts." Spyro added as he took a quick glance over his shoulder.

"Fuck. You work on helping the locals and I'll work on finding Terrador." the engineer told him.

"Okay. Mole-Yair says his brother; Exhumor is being kept at some mines near a labor camp. He said he'll tell us Terrador's location once all his people are free." the dragon explained.

'What the fuck kind of names are these, seriously?' Isaac asked in his head.

"Alright, we'll look around until you're done." the human said before cutting the transmission.

"So we're helping the Manweersmalls now… great." Sparx sighed, obviously not pleased about it.

"Sparx… I really want to punch you right now." Isaac warned threateningly.

The dragonfly gulped and stayed silent. They entered the next room with Isaac's light leading the way.

* * *

Cynder was hiding in the shadows of the cavern as she watched Spyro rescue all her slaves. The Manweersmalls jumped for joy as the purple dragon released them from their magical shackles. She scoffed at the display and walked into a hall leading to Terrador's position.

'Go ahead and rescue them little dragon, you'll be my slave in no time.' she thought with a smile as she walked down the halls.

The black dragoness chuckled when she thought of all the things she'd make Spyro do for her and what she'd do to him. She couldn't wait to make him bend to her will. Her smile widened when she also made plans for the armored engineer. He too wouldn't be spared from slavery under her commanding paw.

She continued walking down the hallway with big plans in mind.

"Cynder…" a male voice was heard behind her.

'Oh no… not again…' Cynder thought with a groan as she turned around, but her eyes widened at what she saw.

An adult black dragon is standing before her. His underbelly and wing membranes are blood red. He possesses six silver horns and a scythe-like tail blade. He stared at her with his sky blue eyes.

"F-father?" Cynder asked with a cracked voice.

"Hello sweetie. Long time no see." the dragon said with a warm smile.

Cynder ran up to her father and hugged him tightly.

"I'm so sorry for what I did to you and mom! Please forgive me!" she sobbed loudly as she buried her snout in his shoulder.

"It's okay, honey. Shh…" her father shushed as he hugged her back.

Cynder cried into her father's shoulder for a long while. They were both silent for a while as they cherished this moment.

"I forgive you… we forgive you. sweetie, I need you to do something for me." her father said soothingly once her sobs lessened to quiet whimpers.

Cynder sniffed and looked up at her father's smiling face.

"I need you to ignore Malefor's demands. Don't open the portal and destroy the elemental crystals you have collected. He only seeks the Marker… make us whole again…" her father told her.

"B-but he'll kill me if I don't… or he… or he would…." Cynder couldn't even finish her sentence as the she thought of the consequences for disobeying the dark lord.

"Make us whole again…" Cynder's father repeated as he let go of her and walked away into the shadows of the hall.

"Wait! Daddy!" she screamed as she ran after him, but no one was there.

Cynder sobbed when she realized he was gone again and when back to her duties. She now had to make a difficult choice, listen to her master, or take her father's advice. There was one thing that troubled her much more than her choice however.

'I killed my parents four years ago.' she remembered with fear and confusion.

* * *

Isaac stood in the center of the room with Sparx by his side. The engineer is covered in blood and holding his recently used ripper. He looked at all the ape's dismembered corpses with grim satisfaction.

"Do you HAVE to be this scary?!" Sparx asked with his arms raised for emphasis.

"Yes." the engineer answered simply as he reloaded his tool and replaced it in favor of his plasma cutter.

The duo made their way across the room and entered the next cavern. They wandered together into a large open spaced room that is seemingly devoid of life.

"Wait here, Sparx. I have a feeling we're not along here." Isaac said seriously as he cautiously made his way towards the center of the room. Holographic static popped up in front of his face and it slowly shaped itself into Spyro's face.

"Okay, Mole-Yair said that Terrador is being kept in the center of the volcano." the blue-tinted dragon told him.

"That's a good idea!" Sparx called sarcastically from the entrance.

"I will meet Exhumor as I make my way there, but I have no idea what you two will face." Spyro continued, ignoring his brother.

"Of course." Isaac stated sarcastically with a small shrug.

"Right. Well, I'll see you two there." Spyro chuckled before the transmission ended.

Almost as soon as the conversation ended however, a buffalo beetle dug itself out of the ground a little ways ahead and snapped its pincers together in preparation.

Isaac quickly took aim, but the massive scorpion managed to get to him and grappled onto him with its pincers. He screamed in surprise as he tried desperately to pull away as it bit into his metal plating with its mandibles.

He managed to push its face away by smashing his plasma cutter on its head repeatedly. With a loud grunt, he was able to successfully knock its head clean off with a loud wet crunch.

Isaac growled as he threw the lifeless corpse to the ground and stared at Sparx.

"Let's go." he said before aiming his tool ahead and walking away.

The dragonfly did his best to ignore the graphic display and flew up to the engineer's side. They walked/flew through the halls in silence. There were no enemies and nothing seemed to happen. They both gasped in surprise however when Spyro's holographic face appeared in front of them without warning.

"Um… Isaac, I think I can use the earth element now." the dragon said with a little dizziness.

"Really? How did that happen?" the engineer asked curiously.

"Well, a giant bell fell on me and I kinda blasted it away with some green energy." Spyro tried to explain.

"Shit, are you okay?" Isaac asked with concern in his voice.

"Yeah, I'm alright. How are things on your end?" the dragon asked once his head was clear of dizziness.

"So far nothing special has happened. I think we're getting close to the center of the volcano though. I've been noticing the increase in lava rivers and pools as we go." the human explained.

"What will you do if you encounter Cynder?" Spyro asked worriedly.

"I'd rather not deal with her right now. If we do cross paths then I'm gonna stasis her and run." Isaac told him as he refilled his stasis meter.

"Okay, Isaac. Take care of Sparx." Spyro said before cutting off the transmission.

"I can take care of myself…" Sparx grumbled with his arms crossed over his chest.

"No you can't." the engineer scoffed as he continued forward with the mumbling dragonfly close behind.

* * *

Terrador was barely conscious as the crystal drained away his powers. He felt himself get weaker and weaker as the moments passed. He panted heavily as he tried to stay awake.

He heard the clicking of claws on stone and looked up to see Cynder approaching him. He opened his mouth and was about to command her to let him go, but stopped when he saw her tear streaked face.

The black dragoness wordlessly walked up to him and unhooked the crystal. He sighed in relief as the crystal was finally taken away after days of constant draining. She sniffed loudly and started walking away.

"W-why are you crying?" Terrador asked with honest curiosity.

Cynder whipped her head around so that their faces were almost touching. Her eyes narrowed as she glared at him

"Why do you care!" she snapped harshly as her voice cracked a little.

"Because me and the other Guardians failed you." Terrador said regrettably with his head down.

The dark dragoness scoffed and started walking away again. She had more important thing to do than chat with her prisoners.

"You didn't answer my question." the Earth Guardian said tiredly, but he was determined to know her distress.

Cynder wiped the tears from her eyes and looked at him.

"You wouldn't understand, slave. I haven't been made whole… but I will be in time." she said before storming out of the room.

'What? What does she mean by that?' Terrador thought to himself before passing out from the lack of energy.

* * *

"Could you please tell me why you won't show us your face?" Sparx practically begged as the duo wandered the tunnels.

"Fuck off." Isaac said with a quiet sigh.

"But I want to know. Is it because you're ugly? Do you have acne? Are you insecure about your loks?" the dragonfly asked, not giving this up.

"Just stop talking already, Jesus!" the engineer snapped.

"Just tell me why you won't show me. At least give me that." Sparx beseeched.

"Oh for fuck's sake, fine. I'm just so used to wearing this thing that it's like a second skin to me. That's it." the human finally confessed.

"Oh… that story sucks." the dragonfly stated with a disappointed tone.

Isaac raised his free hand to punch Sparx, but he was interrupted by loud screeches heading their way. A group of four apes ran towards them with their weapons raised in the air. The engineer raised his plasma cutter to cut them apart, but Cynder appeared out of nowhere from a cloud of shadows and stood between the two parties. The apes stopped their charge and stood at attention.

"Find the purple dragon, leave these two to me!" Cynder ordered her troops in a commanding tone.

The apes nodded and ran off in the opposite direction to search for Spyro, leaving the three alone. The dragoness slowly turned around to face Isaac and Sparx, who was hiding behind the human's head.

"Hello, pets." Cynder greeted with a dark grin as she took a menacing step forward.

Isaac also took a step back and aimed his tool at one of her forelegs. He was hesitant to shoot however because something in her eyes told him that killing her would be a bad idea. It was as if she had lost innocence within her green orbs.

"What do you want from us, she-dragon!?" Sparx yelled in fear.

"Sparx, seriously… shut the fuck up." the engineer said seriously as the dragoness continued approaching them.

The armored human felt his back press against the wall and he swore he could hear his heart pumping in his chest. Cynder used her paw to lower Isaac's arm and she brought her face close to his.

"I can hear the fear in your breathing. I know you worry that I will bring back The Dark Master, but fear not. I will destroy him and rule the realm myself. I will keep you, the hatchling, and even the little mosquito there safe and sound. I will personally take care of you three." Cynder promised as she pressed herself against him.

Sparx was in too much shock to comment and Isaac refused to speak. He had his stasis module at the ready should he need it.

"Go ahead and rescue the green one, it won't change anything. I look forward to having you three as my pets." the dragoness cooed before disappearing in a cloud of shadows.

The engineer sighed once she was gone and slide to the floor. He rested a hand on his armored face and tried to think of a plan.

"W-what are we gonna do? I don't want her controlling us…" Sparx asked with a shaky voice

"I don't know. Let me contact Spyro." Isaac sighed as holographic static appeared in front of him.

The static filled screen focused until the tinted-blue dragon appeared.

"Hey, are you two okay? You look a little shaken." Spyro asked with a concerned voice

"Spyro… we have a huge fucking problem…" Isaac stated with a serious voice.


	8. Psychological projections

**I got a new chapter for you all! Are you proud of me? If you aren't aware, I've helped Admiralkirk with his story, Family is Forever. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend you read his series. Now that that's out of the way, let's get on with the dismembering!**

Chapter 8: Psychological Projections

Spyro looked at Isaac and Sparx with fearful astonishment at what he was just told.

"Cynder wants to do what!?" he asked in alarm as his blue tinted holographic eyes widened.

"She is planning on betraying this "Dark Master" and controlling this world herself." Isaac explained a second time, not feeling too comfortable himself.

He decided to leave out the part about Cynder making them her pets. He didn't want to worry the young dragon even more than he already was.

"So, who is the Dark Master exactly? What does he want?" the space engineer asked curiously, never being told about said entity.

"Ignitus said that he was a purple dragon like me, but he was the first one of our kind. He mastered all the elements and even some that were never heard of before. The elders at the time banished him because of his greed for power. He rallied up an army of apes and started killing off us dragons. He's trapped in Convexity right now, but he's still controlling his army. Ignitus wouldn't tell me anymore information though so you'd have to ask him." Spyro explained in a sad tone.

"He's committing genocide over a grudge? A fucking grudge!? He's as insane as those friggin' Marker-Heads." Isaac said in disbelief.

"Yeah…" the dragon sighed as he looked around the area on his end.

"So, how are things on your end?" the armored human questioned, wanting to switch the topic away from the depressing subject.

"Oh, I just saw an ape giving orders to two other apes. They got on some kind of metal train and left a few moments before you called. I'm gonna follow them." Spyro explained with a determined expression.

"Alright, just be careful." Isaac said softly before cutting the transmission and looked at the dragonfly beside him.

"Why didn't you tell him about the other thing Cynder said? Shouldn't he know too?" Sparx asked with a confused expression.

"He doesn't need to hear that right now, not while we're here." the engineer explained meaningfully.

"I guess you're right. He gets worried way too easily." the dragonfly agreed with a sigh.

Isaac nodded and raised his plasma cutter so that the built-in light illuminated the dark hallway. The duo moved forward as they felt slight tremors occasionally from the still active volcano.

There was a dreadful silence as they moved deeper and deeper into the dangerous volcano. The only thing that could be heard was Isaac's echoing footsteps and uneased breathing that echoed because of his space helmet.

"Listen to the following information to increase your chances of survival." a female voice whispered quickly in Isaac's head.

He chose to ignore the voice and continued forward down the hall. He's grown used to the malevolent voices in the dark by now.

"The desire for social interaction, physical contact, affection, and support may lead you to make poor judgments and decisions in multiple areas." the female whisper continued just as quickly as last time.

Isaac sighed quietly as he and Sparx reached the end of the hallway. The dragonfly looked at him for a second, but shrugged and looked ahead again.

They went through the doorway at the end of the hall and came out in an open spaced room with a lava pool in the center. The engineer scanned the room for dangers with his tool, but there wasn't a soul in sight.

"I thought this place would be packing. Where is everybody?" Sparx broke the silence as the human lowered his mining tool.

"I'm not sure myself, but I'm guessing Cynder sicked them on Spyro." Isaac answered as he approached a cluster of spirit gems.

He grunted loudly as he curb stomped the gems, shattering them to pieces. They clanged as they hit the ground and sparkled brightly in the light. He picked up the bright shards and put them in his inventory for safe keeping.

"You sure like making loud noises when you break stuff." Sparx commented with a chuckle.

"Oh, that's funny. Fuck off." Isaac said sarcastically as he flipped him off at the second sentence.

They were about to continue on their way, but the armored human stopped when he saw a mining cart full of various metals.

"Um… Isaac, Terrador's this way." the dragonfly said as he pointed to the next room with his thumb over his shoulder.

"In a sec, Sparx." the engineer told him as he approached the mining cart and put away his tool.

The human started mumbling to himself as he searched through the many different types of metals. He took out a few specific materials from the container and put them in his inventory. He reached into his inventory again and equipped his pulse rifle. The human looked at his companion and nodded in confirmation that he was all set.

"What are you gonna do with those things?" the dragonfly asked as they started moving again.

"Oh, I'm ugh… I'm gonna use them to help fix my ship. Can't fly in space if the vacuum is able to get through the hull." Isaac explained as he aimed his rifle ahead of them in case they were attacked suddently.

"Vacuum? What's that?" Sparx asked curiously.

"Basically, space is very low on density and pressure. When it is introduced to an environment such as this, the dynamic pressure and kinetic energy causes everything to get sucked out into space." the space engineer explained.

"I didn't get a single word out of that." the dragonfly stated honestly with an apologetic expression.

"Fuck you." Isaac said simply.

"That was rude!" Sparx whined loudly, followed by a soft chuckle from the armored engineer.

They entered the next room to see a hive of fire beetles. The insects steadily exited their home and began flying towards the duo with the intent to kill.

Isaac took the initiative and rained a hail of gunfire down at the hive, easily destroying it. He then aimed at the advancing beetles and shot them all down, one by one. Yellow-green blood dripped off the walls as he reloaded his weapon.

"Score one for the guys!" Sparx cried cheerfully with his fist in the air.

The engineer snorted and they continued on their way. They walked into a dark open spaced hallway leading downward. The human replaced his pulse rifle with the ripper and aimed down the hallway. The light from the mining tool lit the way as they ventured forward.

There was a din as the ground shook violently and a stalactite fell down right in front of them, startling them both.

"I don't like this, Isaac." Sparx said nervously as his head whipped around in all directions once the shaking stopped.

"Neither do I." the engineer agreed as they maneuvered their way around the fallen environmental hazard.

They continued forth down the hall with more caution than earlier. They each scanned the area ahead as they moved forward. The armored human saw a shadow move to their right and whipped his tool's light to see the anomaly.

"Die!" an ape screeched as it jumped out of the darkness with a dagger in hand.

Isaac yelped in surprise as the large primate latched onto him and tried to slice his throat open. He grabbed the ape's arm and held the blade away as he tried desperately to push the ape off him.

"Come on, Isaac! You can do it!" Sparx encouraged from the sidelines as he watched the scuffle before him.

The armored engineer dropped his ripper and grabbed the ape's wrist with both hands. He pried it's hand open and forced the dagger out of the ape's grip. He grunted loudly as he buried the blade into the ape's eye socket, killing it instantly.

Blood gushed onto the wall behind the ape as it went limp in Isaac's death grip. He forcefully shoved the corpse onto the ground with another loud grunt.

"Thanks for the support." Isaac panted as he slowly picked up his ripper.

"No problem, buddy. We're in this together!" the dragonfly said enthusiastically with his chest puffed out in pride.

The space engineer chuckled and they continued on their way. After a minute or two of walking, they made it to another open spaced room with various lava pools here and there.

The holographic screen popped up in front of them with a staticy noise and Spyro's real-time image appeared. The dragon was panting heavily and looked like he just had the scare of his life.

"Yo, bro! You okay?" Sparx asked worriedly as he looked at his brother.

"I'm fine; I just had a run in with that ape with the train I was talking about." Spyro said as his breathes got calmer.

"Shit, did you get 'em?" Isaac asked with a sigh.

"He got away and I somehow ended up outside. I think I'm getting close to Terrador though." the blue-tinted dragon explained, his breathing now steady again.

"Okay, I think we're pretty close too. We'll see you there, Spyro." the armored human said before ending the transmission.

The duo looked at each other and nodded. They looked forward again and moved ahead. The wandered around the room without incident until they came upon a large wooden door. They both slowly looked up at the massively sized door.

"I hope you can open this thing." Sparx said as he looked at his companion.

"Screw that, I'm blowing the fucking door open." Isaac grumbled as he took out his contact beam.

He aimed at the door, making three vertical blue dots appear on the door. Sparx yelped in surprise and quickly flew behind the engineer as he charged the massive tool.

**BOOM!**

The door flew open from the excess amount of the kinetic energy. Isaac reloaded the contact beam and replaced it with his plasma cutter.

"You must be great at parties!" Sparx laughed as he looked over the completely destroyed door.

The armored engineer shook his head with a chuckle and they moved through the doorframe.

The duo looked at the ash-filled sky as they found themselves on the surface once again. There were many lava pools and rails used for mining scattered all over the area.

"I don't feel any safer out here than I did inside." Sparx commented as he looked at the hellish landscape.

"Are we supposed to?" Isaac asked rhetorically.

The dragonfly rolled his eyes and they moved onward. Almost as soon as they advanced however, four apes jumped down and screeched at them. They got out their weapons and prepared to battle the duo.

"For fuck's sakes, die!" the space engineer shouted impatiently as he shot off one of the primate's head off.

The ape's head rolled off it's shoulders and it slumped to the ground with a thud. The other three apes must have smartened up because they ran away screaming in fear.

"That's right! Run you cowards!" the dragonfly yelled triumphantly with a shaking fist.

"You shouldn't be talking, Sparx." Isaac scolded as he reloaded the plasma cutter.

"Isaac… why are you so mean to me?" Sparx asked with fake hurt.

"Because your reactions are priceless." the armored human explained with a small chuckle.

He stepped around the beheaded corpse and walked forward with Sparx close behind. They both just wanted to find Terrador and get out of there as soon as possible.

"Search and Rescue." the female voice whispered quickly in Isaac's head.

'Please shut up.' he begged in his in his head as he felt shivers run up his spine.

"Assistance may be labeled as obsession or even torture while the subject is enchanted by the subject. Also, be mindful of psychological projections." the voice continued speedily.

Isaac groaned quietly as he shook his head to clear his thoughts.

"Hey, you okay?" Sparx asked with a worried expression.

"I'm fine. Just a little jumpy, is all." the space engineer assured, but didn't sound too sure himself.

"If you say so." the dragonfly shrugged.

Isaac sighed again and they continued forward into the hellish environment.


	9. Breaking the Shackles

**Hi everybody, here's another chapter for all you readers! I read over the new reviews and noticed that Jedi Orange wanted me to write a Cortex Command crossover. I've honestly never heard of that game before you mentioned it and I don't feel comfortable writing about things I'm completely unfamiliar with. Sorry buddy, maybe someone else will. Enjoy the chapter, everyone!**

Chapter 9: Breaking the Shackles

Isaac and Sparx have been wandering around the ash-filled for awhile now. They occasionally came across a few apes, but they were easily taken care of by a few well aimed shots from the engineer's plasma cutter.

The eventually came across some kind of mining camp and it was obvious that it was still in use, considering the ape guards patrolling the area.

Isaac reloaded his plasma cutter and switched to his ripper, not wanting to waste too much ammo on a single tool.

The duo were about to enter the camp, but a holographic screen popped up in front of the human's face. The static focused until Spyro's face could easily be seen.

"Isaac, Sparx, I came across Mole-Yair's brother, Exhumor. He said that Terrador is being kept somewhere in a camp on the surface." the dragon informed them.

"That makes things easier because we're right at the camp's doorstep." the space engineer replied.

"And then it's off to karaoke!" Sparx cried cheerfully.

"There's a catch isn't there?" Isaac said more as a statement than a question.

"We can't leave the Manweersmalls here. We need to help them get out of here." Spyro said sternly.

"Okay… how many of them are there?" the armored human asked with a quiet sigh.

"Um… I don't know." the blue-tinted dragon answered honestly with a sheepish smile.

"Well, we aren't accomplishing anything just standing around. We'll meet you somewhere inside." the engineer told him.

"Are we supposed to wander around aimlessly until we bump into each other?" the dragonfly asked sarcastically.

Isaac wordlessly activated his locator on his left palm. The blue holographic line ran across the ground, leading to Spyro's location.

"Oh, I forgot you had that." Sparx stated as he scratched the back of his head.

The space engineer disabled his locator system and turned to face the hologram in front of them.

"So we'll each free the Manweersmalls and meet up along the way?" Spyro asked for confirmation.

"Pretty much. See you in a bit." Isaac said with a nod before cutting of the transmission.

"Let's go have some fun!" Sparx yelled sarcastically.

Isaac chose to ignore the dragonfly and walked into the camp with Sparx close behind. They almost immediately came across a cage with three Manweersmalls trapped inside. The armored human was about to set them free, but a group of six apes ran up to them with their weapons raised over their heads.

The space engineer whipped around and activated his ripper. The gravitationally tethered saw blade easily cut through the apes in a display of flying limbs and blood.

One of the Manweersmalls actually threw up from the display of intense gore and they all looked at the armored engineer in fear.

One of the apes successfully dodged the diamond coated blade and swung his hammer at the human.

Isaac grunted loudly and took a couple steps back as his health bar went down two full bars. He leaned back and smashed his ripper against the ape's head with all his might.

The ape screeched in pain and fell to the ground with a thud.

"RRUGH!" Isaac grunted as he curb stomped the primate's head.

There was a loud cracking sound and the ape's head severed from the rest of the now limp body. The head slowly rolled away into a lava pool, leaving behind a trail of blood and bone marrow.

Isaac reloaded his ripper and slowly turned around to face the terrified Manweersmalls. He placed the ripper in his inventory and replaced it with the plasma cutter. Three vertical blue dots appeared on the cage's lock and he fired his tool.

The lock was easily cut in half and the space engineer opened the cage. He sighed heavily and stepped aside so they could easily get out.

One by one, the little creatures walked out of the cage and faced Isaac with both awe and fear.

"Get outta this place. It's not safe here." the armored engineer told them as he motioned down one of the paths with his head.

"T-thank you…" one of the Manweersmalls said quietly before they all scampered away.

"So the armored space giant does have a heart after all." Sparx commented with a chuckle.

Isaac rolled his eyes behind his glowing visors and looked around the camp they were in. He noticed that there were many other cages that are full of slaves.

"This is gonna take awhile." he said with a heavy sigh as he used a small med pack to heal himself.

* * *

Cynder has been constantly flying from one end of the camp to the other. She has made it her priority to stealthily watch Spyro and Isaac's progress as they freed her slaves.

'I will have to punish them for this later.' She thought to herself as she inconspicuously watched Spyro as he destroyed a cage with his electric breath.

The Terror of the Skies looked with disgust as the little creature jumped for joy once it realized it was free. She watched as Spyro smiled proudly at the Manweersmall before running off to free the others.

'You won't be smiling like that when I have you on a leash and I force you to call me Mistress.' she thought with a cruel smile as multiple ideas popped into her sadistic head.

"Cynder… make us whole again…" a familiar male voice said from behind her.

The black dragoness whipped around to see her father standing there and smiling warmly at her.

"Father… I don't understand. How are you here when I…?" she couldn't bring herself to finish her question.

"Cynder… what are you talking about? Me and your mother are fine." her father assured with a kind smile.

"B-but I…." Cynder whimpered, barely containing her mournful tears.

"I promise you that we are fine and well." he said as he took a couple steps forward.

The black dragoness sniffed loudly and bowed her head.

"You need to stop Malefor from unearthing the Marker…. and make us whole again." her father told her with a soothing voice.

"I will, daddy. I'll make you proud of me." Cynder replied with determination, finding some of her strength returning.

"That's my girl." he praised with a big smile.

Cynder's father spread his wings and took flight to an unknown destination. Cynder wiped the tears from her eyes and stood up straight.

"I will make us whole again…" she recited before taking flight herself.

* * *

"AAHHUGH!" Isaac roared as he smashed the lock off a cage with his deactivated ripper.

He opened the cage's door wide open and stepped aside for the little creatures within.

"Go! Go! Go!" he yelled as he waved them all out.

The Manweersmalls came out of their prison one by one and ran to safety. The space engineer stepped away from the cage and looked at Sparx.

"I think that's all of them. Should we look for Spyro now?" the dragonfly questioned.

"Yeah, hang on a sec." the armored human replied.

Isaac raised his left hand at shoulder height and a blue holographic line appeared with a beep. It came out of the palm of his hand and ran across the ground.

"That way." he said as he deactivated his locator system.

The engineer switched to his plasma cutter and walked in the direction his locator led.

"I gotta get me one of those things." Sparx thought aloud as he followed close behind the armored human.

They walked in silence for a little bit until they saw Spyro zap the last cage open and freed a couple Manweersmalls.

"Yo! Buddy!" the dragonfly cried in joy as he flew up to his brother and hugged his snout.

"Sparx! It's good to see you too!" Spyro replied happily.

The armored engineer chuckled quietly and walked up to the two brothers. Sparx eventually pulled away from the purple dragon and quickly pointed at Isaac.

"HE WAS MEAN TO ME!" he yelled accusingly.

"I can't imagine why." Spyro replied sarcastically as he rolled his violet eyes.

"That's because you deserved it, fuck-face. How 'bout you grow a spine you wimp?" the armored engineer added jokingly.

Isaac and Spyro laughed loudly as Sparx stared at them with his mouth wide open in shock.

"Okay, okay, enough teasing. Are all the Manweersmalls safe?" the space engineer changed subjects before it could get too out of hand.

"I think so, yeah. I was about to look for Exhumor now actually." Spyro replied with a nod.

"Alright, let's go." Isaac said before he started walking down the path.

Spyro and Sparx followed close behind. It didn't take long for them to reach a mining tunnel that had both Mole-Yair and Exhumor residing in it. The group of three entered the tunnel and approached the two brothers.

"Well, I see you two crazy kids found each other." Sparx observed with a smile, grabbing the two Manweersmall's attention.

"Yes, at last… thanks to you." Mole-Yair answered gratefully.

"We're just disappointed you didn't leave any fun for us." Exhumor added with a snicker.

"Sorry, we couldn't help ourselves." Isaac replied with a chuckle.

"Maybe next time. So now, which way to Terrador?" Spyro asked with a raised eyebrow.

"That way… but be careful. The Conductor and his maniacal locomotive will surely be close by." Exhumor warned them as he pointed at a big metal door outside the tunnel.

"When you say be careful, does that mean try not to die? I'm trying to do that anyway." Sparx commented.

"Aren't we all?" Isaac asked quietly.

"Come, Exhumor, we must get all the Manweersmalls underground… where they belong." Mole-Yair told his brother.

Almost as soon as he said that however, there was a violent tremor and everyone nearly fell off their feet, except for Sparx who was flying. It ended as soon as it started and everyone regained their balance with little trouble.

"Yes, it won't be long now." Exhumor said with his head down.

They all walked out of the tunnel and easily rounded up all the escaped Manweersmalls. They all stood in front of Mole-Yair and Exhumor and jumped up into the air. The flipped in the air before diving into the soil and digging underground, leaving their hats behind.

"Well…. that was interesting." Isaac mumbled under his breath.

The group of three looked at the foreboding metal door, leading to Terrador, as it quickly slid open.

They wordlessly walked up to the doorframe and passed through it with no trouble. Spyro smashed and absorbed two spirit gem clusters to their right while Isaac curb stomped the third one with a loud grunt. The space engineer collected the shards and they continued on their way.

A small group of apes ran up two them with their weapons at the ready, but Isaac slowed them down with a kinesis shot. Spyro was about to charge forward, but the armored human blocked his path.

"Let me handle them." he said as he took out his contact beam.

Isaac aimed at the group of apes with his massive tool and charged it. Once it was fully charged, he released the trigger.

A large blast of kinetic energy smashed into the now recovered apes and they pushed back into the wall behind them. Their bones shattered inside their bodies and their organs imploded within themselves from the sheer force of energy.

The apes' broken bodies littered the floor as Isaac put away his contact beam and equipped his pulse rifle.

"Overkill much?" Sparx asked with a disgusted expression as Spyro nodded in agreement.

"No, I'd say that was just-enough-kill." Isaac responded as if it was no big deal.

Spyro sighed and they all walked down the bloodstained hallway. They saw another gem cluster and Isaac curb stomped it with yet another loud grunt. He took half of the shards while the purple dragon absorbed the other half.

They continued down the hall until they saw a buffalo beetle menacingly approach them.

"I got this one!" Spyro announced as he ran forward.

The purple dragon sent a surge of electricity toward the large scorpion, forcing it back outside at the end of the hall. He zapped it over and over again until it eventually fell off the cliff.

Isaac smiled behind his helmet as he and Sparx walked up to Spyro. They were about to continue, but stopped when they saw and ape riding a dreadwing fly up from the bottom of the cliff. It landed right in front of them as the ape screeched loudly.

Spyro quickly zapped the dreadwing towards the edge. Realizing that it's wings were paralyzed and couldn't fly, the ape jumped off the dreadwing's back just before it fell to it's death.

Isaac quickly aimed his pulse rifle at the ape rider and shot it's right arm off with a burst of automatic fire. The ape screamed in pain as it held it's bloody stump. The armored human ended the ape's suffering by shooting it's head off.

The corpse slumped to the ground in a pool of it's own blood with a squishy thud, making Spyro and Sparx shiver.

"I'm glad you're on our side." Sparx told Isaac as he reloaded his rifle.

Isaac shrugged and they continued on their way. They walked into a narrow hallway that led into darkness. The armored engineer led the way as he illuminated the dark hall with his pulse rifle's light.


	10. Bug Hunt

**What's up everyone? I have constructed this new chapter for your enjoyment. Now I said this once and I'll say it again, I have no plans on writing a Cortex Command crossover. Please stop asking me, there is nothing you can say to persuade me. Now that I have bitched my peace, please enjoy this chapter.**

Chapter 10: Bug Hunt

Spyro, Sparx, and Isaac continued down the cramped hallway until they came out at an obstruction. They are now outside, but the tracks have been destroyed, preventing them from continuing forward. The area is extremely open spaced and the ground below is scattered with lave pools and sharp rocks.

There are small platforms below with a few groups of apes waiting for their chance to strike. There is also a dreadwing flying up above of them. The trio looked at each other with uncertainty.

"I can't fly like you two. How am I supposed to get across all this?" Isaac asked as he switched his body weight from one foot to the other.

"Um… that's a good question." Spyro said as he tapped his chin in thought.

The group of three thought of how they could get Isaac across for a couple minutes. They were about to give up when Isaac suddenly had an idea.

"Hey Spyro, remember when you used your ice breath to make a bridge?" he asked as he turned to face the dragon.

"Yeah, but I think it's too hot here to make it again." the purple dragon replied with an apologetic look.

"But you can breathe earth now, right?" the armored engineer continued.

Spyro still looked confused, but his eyes widened when he realized what Isaac meant.

"I'm not sure, Isaac. I just learned how to use this power." he said nervously.

"You can do it, I believe in you." Isaac encouraged with a nod.

"Yeah, buddy. You can do anything with that face-magic!" Sparx added enthusiastically.

"Okay, I'll give it a try." Spyro said with a look of determination.

The purple dragon faced the ledge and took a deep breath. He opened his maw and a large green wave of energy rushed out of his throat. One of the platforms adopted a green aura as it slowly raised into the air and floated next to the ledge.

"Get… on…." Spyro said as he focused on keeping the platform in the air.

Isaac wordlessly stepped onto the stone platform and readied his pulse rifle. The platform began to slowly move across the air as the space engineer scanned the area ahead with his weapon.

The armored human noticed the apes on the lower platforms and opened fire on them. They screeched and wailed in agony as their arms and legs were shot off from the hail of automatic gunfire.

One of the apes tried to throw a stick of dynamite at him, but he quickly shot it's head off before it had a chance to light it. The body fell into a lava pool and it caught on fire as it sunk into the bottom.

The dreadwing swooped down to try to knock the space engineer off, but it missed by several inches. After he got his balance back, he took aim and released a steady flow of gunfire at the flying monstrosity.

It screeched in pain as one of it's wings flew off it's body. It instantly fell from the sky and landed in one of the many lava pools below.

Isaac reloaded his pulse rifle as the floating platform approached a tunnel in the wall ahead. He stepped off the platform once it was close enough and it quickly fell to the ground once Spyro ceased the flow of energy.

He noticed a bunch of fire beetle hives and quickly shot them to bits before the hostile insects could come out and attack. The nests exploded with bursts of yellow-green blood and small insect body parts.

He heard the sound of wing beats and turned around to see Spyro glide into the tunnel with Sparx close behind. The purple dragon landed with the dragonfly flying by his shoulder and they approached the armored engineer.

"You look exhausted." Isaac observed as Spyro panted heavily

"That took… a lot of energy… to do…" the dragon explained between pants.

The space engineer pulled a spirit gem shard out of his inventory and held it out. Spyro sighed in relief as his body absorbed the magical gem and his energy returned.

"Thanks." the purple dragon said gratefully with a smile.

"No problem." Isaac replied as they started to walk down the tunnel.

They stopped once they came to an opening on the other end of the tunnel. Large tree roots are covering the walls and one of them is leading downwards like a staircase. There are two buffalo beetles at the ground floor of the room.

The armored engineer put his pulse rifle in his inventory and took out his contact beam. He took aim at one of the hostile insects below.

"Fire in the hole." Isaac said calmly as he charged the large tool and fired it.

The blast of kinetic energy knocked the buffalo beetle into the wall and cracked it's exoskeleton. Yellow-green blood oozed out of the cracks as the armored human aimed at the other insectoid creature.

The surviving buffalo beetle saw the bright lights aimed at it and tried to move away. Isaac was too fast for it as he was already charging the contact beam. He released the activation button and a blast of kinetic energy struck the fleeing creature.

The large insect smashed against the wall with enough force to sever all of it's limbs. Bug body parts and blood scattered the floor as the two buffalo beetles' lives ended.

"Ka-boom!" Sparx cried cheerfully with his arms raised up into the air.

Isaac rolled his eyes behind his helmet as Spyro chuckled at his brother's shenanigans.

The armored engineer reloaded his massive tool and put it in his inventory for later. He equipped his plasma cutter and checked the ammo. He nodded to his companions when he was ready to go.

Spyro led them down the root "staircase" and walked to the center of the new area. A third buffalo beetle skittered up to them from the corner of the room, but the purple dragon was easily able to overcome the hostile creature with a torrent of freezing mist from his ice breath.

The buffalo beetle shivered heavily as it was covered with cold air and crystallized icicles. The attack was too much for it to handle and it's entire body exploded in a cloud of yellow-green blood, most of which splattered on Isaac.

"No matter what I do…" the blood stained human sighed as he looked at the ceiling.

Spyro chuckled as he looked around the room. He saw a bunch of cracks on one of the walls and an idea formed in his head. He inhaled deeply and shot an earth energy blast at it, blasting that part of the wall away. The purple dragon smiled when he saw that there was a hallway behind the now destroyed wall.

"Good eye. I didn't even see those cracks." Isaac praised with an approving nod.

Spyro smiled proudly as the armored engineer took the lead. He led them inside to see a large fire beetle nest in the center of the new room. The nest is so tall that it almost reaches the ceiling. It pulsated as the swarms of fire beetles stirred inside it.

"Holy fuck! Get back!" Isaac screamed as he took out his pulse rifle and took aim.

Spyro and Sparx quickly backed out of the room as the armored human shot a stasis bolt at the hive. It adopted a blue tint as it's movements slowed down significantly.

Isaac quickly took aim and released a hail of gunfire at the massive hive's yellow warts, destroying them as he went. He circled around the giant hive as he shot at the warts and advancing fire beetles.

Once all the bulbous growths were destroyed, the armored engineer shot the remained fire beetles that managed to survive the onslaught.

Once the hostile creatures were reduced to nothing, but blood splatters on the wall, Isaac reloaded his automatic rifle and switched back to his plasma cutter.

"It's safe now!" he called down the hallway behind him.

Spyro and Sparx came into the room to see the dead hive and splattered bug blood everywhere.

"Wow. You're a good exterminator." the dragonfly commented with a chuckle.

"Had a lot of practice." Isaac replied before curb stomping a cluster of spirit gems.

The space engineer and Spyro worked together to smash the clusters of gems and evenly split the shards between them. The purple dragon absorbed his share while the human placed his in his inventory.

Once all the gem clusters were smashed, they all met up in front of the industrial door on the side of the room to their right.

"I'm guessing we need to go that way." Sparx commented as he pointed at the gray and red door.

"Yeah, no fucking shit!" Isaac yelled jokingly as the door slid open.

Spyro laughed as Sparx pouted with his arms crossed.

"Alright, alright, let's go." the space engineer said as he entered the hall.

The group of three immediately came across two magmaworms. Spyro rushed to the front and quickly froze them to death with his ice breath. The fiery insects shriveled up and exploded in a display of yellow-green blood.

"Okay, seriously… WHAT THE FUCK!?" Isaac screamed as most of the blood splattered all over him for the second time in a row.

"Sorry, Isaac." Spyro apologized with a sheepish smile.

The space engineer mumbled something under his breath as he brushed some of the goop off his brown plated spacesuit.

They continued down the circular hallway until they reached a metal door with three barrels full of explosives in front of it.

"Would you like to do the honors?" Isaac asked as he motioned towards the barrels.

"Don't mind if I do." Spyro replied as he faced the door and environmental hazard.

He took a deep breath and released an earth blast at the barrels. There was a loud explosion and the metal door blew open, allowing them to pass.

"Who needs thermite when you have a badass dragon!?" Isaac laughed as he patted Spyro's shoulder, making him smile.

"He's not a dragon, he's just a fat dragonfly." Sparx mocked with a grin.

"Bitch." the armored engineer stated as he pointed directly at the yellow dragonfly.

Sparx's cocky smile immediately turned into a sad frown.

"That was rude." he said in a hurt voice.

"Nobody gives a shit, let's go!" Isaac said as he walked through the doorway with his two companions close behind.

They came into a very large room with many platforms leading upward. They all looked up with their mouths open in shock as they looked up at the door they had to go through, which was at the top level of the room.

"Well this sucks." the space engineer commented as they looked around the massive room.

Spyro and Sparx nodded in agreement before they walked forward. The group of three moved up the rounded ramp up to the first level and immediately came across a dozen apes.

Before Isaac could react, Spyro charged into the center of the mass of enemies and closed his eyes. The purple dragon slowly rose into the air as a torrent of flames shot out in all directions, killing nearly all of the apes and severely burning the others in the intense heat.

"Holy shit!" Isaac screamed in surprise as he took a few steps back.

The surviving apes screamed in pain as they jumped off the ledge in an attempt to escape from the blistering heat. This proved fatal however because they all fell into a lava pool below.

Spyro gently lowered to the ground as the fire fury faded. He dodged an incoming train and ran up to Isaac and Sparx.

"When could you do that!?" the armored human asked as his brain registered what he just witnessed.

"I always could, I just don't like using it too often. It makes me tired." Spyro replied as his eyes were a little droopy from the use of energy.

"You gonna be okay?" Isaac asked with a concerned tone as he crouched on one knee.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go rescue Terrador!" the purple dragon answered as he looked ahead with determination in his eyes.

The space engineer nodded and stood up again. The group of three moved ahead into the cavern with Isaac leading the way.


	11. We're so Fucked

**Greetings everyone, got a fresh chapter for you all to read. I apologize that nothing really important happened in the last chapter, but it was kinda unavoidable. This chapter will have shit get serious though, don't worry. Remember to review and all that bullshit!**

Chapter 11: We're so Fucked

Isaac, Spyro, and Sparx have been making their way up the large room for over an hour now. They have killed many apes as they went and avoided the speeding trains as they passed. The group also made sure to free any Manweersmall they came across.

"RAUGH!" Isaac grunted as he smashed an ape's head with his boot.

The armored human looked to his right to see Spyro zap a large ape off the ledge with his electric breath. He watched the dragon run up to his side with Sparx close behind once their foe fell to it's death.

"I think that's all of them." Spyro panted as they looked at the metal door they've been striving to get to.

"I think you're right. Let's go." Isaac agreed as he motioned towards the gray and red door.

Spyro and Sparx nodded and followed the space engineer to the industrial door. It quickly slid open upon their approach, revealing a dark hallway and two spirit gem clusters.

Spyro smashed and absorbed the gems to the left while Isaac curb stomped and stored the gems on the right.

Once they got all the shards, the armored engineer used his plasma cutter as a flashlight while they walked down the dark corridor. They took a right and moved upwards until they reached the exit.

The group found themselves in a large open spaced area outside that is littered with spirit gems and lava pools. On the other side of the large arena is a massive machine with a glowing pink energy sphere in the center. A big green dragon is resting unconscious inside the spherical energy prison.

"Is that… Terrador?" Spyro asked in horror.

"Big dragon being held prisoner in the center of an explosive volcano? I'm guessing that's Terrador." Sparx explained as his brother looked at him with a bored expression.

Isaac shook his head and aimed his plasma cutter around the surrounding area, scanning for dangers.

"Careful… it's never this easy." Spyro warned with a determined expression.

"After the last two times, you're not going to get an argument from me, chief." the dragonfly assured.

All of a sudden, one of the industrial doors slid open and the Conductor rode into the arena on his metal train.

"Oh, here we go again!" Sparx complained as the train operator drove his locomotive into the center of the arena.

Isaac quickly switched to his pulse rifle and took aim as the train came to a slow stop.

"You're a little late, fellas. The crystal's already charged and the volcano's ready to blow! But before it does, me and Steam here are gonna take great pleasure in running you down!" the Conductor gloated.

"Yeah? Fuck you! And fuck Steam too!" Isaac screamed before he immediately opened fire on the train.

The bullets had no affect on the armored locomotive as it started circling around the arena. The engineer and dragon ran to the center of the battlefield in an attempt to avoid the massive train.

Isaac kept shooting at Steam as it circled them, but the bullets just couldn't pierce it's armor. Spyro saw the smoke coming out of the train's side and got idea. The purple dragon ran up to the intersection in the center of the arena and stood on the train tracks.

"Spyro! Are you out of your mind!? Get off that!" Isaac yelled as he switched back to the plasma cutter due to the lack of pulse rounds.

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing." the purple dragon assured as he watched the hostile locomotive.

The armored engineer sighed and aimed at Steam and the Conductor just in case.

The train circled around Spyro a couple of times, but after the third lap, it took an abrupt right turn. The steam coming out of it's sides was replaced with fire as it sped to the waiting dragon.

Spyro quickly jumped to of the way and Steam crashed right into the wall behind him. The purple dragon immediately turned around and shot an earth energy blast at the train. Isaac took proper aim and fired four times at the now damaged vehicle.

The Conductor growled and fire erupted from Steam's sides. Spyro easily dodged the attack and put some distance between him and the locomotive.

The armored engineer ran up to the intersection just like Spyro did and watched as Steam circled around him.

"Be careful, Isaac!" Spyro yelled as he watched the scene with a worried expression.

The space engineer watched Steam make it's rounds as fire shot out of it's sides every now and then. Just as predicted, the train turned towards him and increased in speed.

Isaac tried to dodge out of the way, but the locomotive smashed into his left arm, bringing his health bar down enough so that it was yellow in color.

The armored human screamed in surprise as his arm caught on Steam and he was dragged along with it.

"ISAAC!" Spyro and Sparx screamed in unison as the train smashed into the large machine, followed by a massive explosion.

Once the dust cleared, Terrador was lying on the ground and there was a giant hole in the wall behind him. The two brothers looked at each other with horrified expressions and approached the downed Guardian.

Terrador woke up as they walked up to him and slowly stood up.

"The purple dragon… lives." the Earth Guardian stated in amazement as he looked at Spyro.

"He's got a name you know." Sparx said angrily, feeling very worried for his human friend.

'Something's troubling them. I'll have to ask later.' Terrador thought to himself as he looked at his saviors' worried looks.

"Yes, my name is Spyro…. And you must be Terrador." the purple dragon said, but his mind was at other places.

"Yes, yes I am, and I must say I never thought I'd live to meet you, Spyro." the Earth Guardian told them with respect in his tone of voice.

"Look, I'd love to sit here and bug everybody and chit chat…" Sparx started.

The ground began shaking violently half way through his sentence.

"…but how 'bout we leave and find Isaac before the volcano blows us up?" the dragonfly suggested.

"You're right. I've got to tell the others what Cynder is up to." Terrador agreed, deciding to ask who Isaac is later.

Sparx was about to say something, but stopped when he remembered that his human friend didn't want Spyro to know of her new plans.

The two dragons turned towards the exit and started walking.

"Let's go. I'm right behind you. Actually, I'm right in front of you." Sparx said as he flew around them, trying to lift the mood up.

There was more shaking all of a sudden and something flew out of a lava pool right in front of them. The lava splashed away from the object, revealing Cynder in all her infamous glory.

Spyro felt a cold shiver run up his spine as he and the evil dragoness made eye contact. His heart rate quickened in pace and he felt his limbs start to shake in fear.

"Run!" Terrador ordered as he protectively stepped in front of Spyro and Sparx.

Spyro was too scared to move and he simply watched Cynder as she hovered in the sky.

"Look, when the guy says run, I think he knows something!" Sparx reasoned as he flew in front of his trembling brother.

Cynder flapped her wings and dived down straight towards Spyro.

Terrador quickly got in the dragoness' way, making her pull up. He took flight and chased after her in the sky.

Once they were high up in the air, Cynder whipped around and smashed her tail against Terrador's face, making him drop back down.

Spyro's mouth opened in horror as he watched the Guardian crash into the ground.

A large stone pillar tilted over the Earth Guardian and he just barely dodged it before it could crush him.

"Go, Spyro! Fly like you've never flown before! I'll go back to the Temple for help!" Terrador yelled as he stood up.

Cynder looked at the earth dragon, then directly at the purple dragon again.

Spyro felt all hope drain away as he watched the evil dragoness glare at him. He quickly took to the skies and began flying away. His heart nearly skipped a beat when he heard loud wing flaps close behind him.

'Please don't let her get me! Please don't let her get me! Please don't let her get me!' the purple dragon begged in his head as he flew as fast as he could away from the dragoness behind him.

He could hear her getting closer and closer behind him. He was about to give up on the spot when he remembered he had a RIG.

Spyro immediately brought up the holographic screen as he flew and contacted the space engineer.

* * *

(Earlier in Isaac's point of view)

Isaac held onto the locomotive in a death grip as it smashed through the machine and wall. He looked up at the Conductor to see that he was trying desperately to stop the train.

The armored human shakily aimed his plasma cutter at the ape as the train drove down the steep volcano. He was just about to get a shot off, but the ground started shaking again. He screamed in surprise as he held on with both arms.

Once the ground steadied again, the engineer took aim again. Once he got the blue dots aligned, he fired his tool.

"AAHH!" the Conductor screamed in agony as his right arm was cut off from the plasma bolt.

He held the bloody stump in a desperate attempt to stop the heavy bleeding as the locomotive continued down Boyzitbig.

Isaac held on for dear life as the train went even more out of control. He looked ahead to see that there was one more platform before Steam would plow straight into the lava filled sea. He positioned himself so that he could easily jump off once they reached the platform.

The Conductor saw this and grabbed Isaac's shoulder in a death grip, making him scream in shock.

"Ah-ah-ah, you're coming with me and Steam!" the ape yelled as he kept the armored engineer in place.

Isaac tried to squirm away from the Conductor, but his grip was to strong. He growled in frustration and started bashing his plasma cutter against the ape's wrist.

The ape screeched in pain, but still didn't let go. Out of desperation, the space engineer aimed at the ape's head and squeezed the activation button.

The plasma cutter discharged and the Conductors head flew off his body. Isaac pulled away from the dead ape and jumped on the platform moments before the locomotive drove right into the lava sea.

The armored human rolled as he landed and finally came to an abrupt stop after a few agonizing moments. He gasped and wheezed as he shakily got stood up. He wobbled in place slightly as his RIG blinked red.

Isaac opened up his holographic inventory and activated his large med kit. He sighed in relief as his health bar filled up and changed back to bright blue.

"Ugh… holy shit, that was close." the engineer gasped as he looked around his surroundings.

He smiled behind his helmet when he saw that he landed on the same platform that housed his space shuttle.

He was about to enter the ship, but a static filled holographic screen popped up in front of him. The static slowly cleared away, revealing Spyro's worry stricken face.

"ISAAC! HELP!" the blue tinted dragon screamed as the environment whipped by behind him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What are talking abo… HOLY FUCK!" Isaac shouted when he saw Cynder right behind Spyro.

"PLEASE GET OVER HERE! I CAN'T FLY FOR MUCH LONGER!" Spyro beseeched as he started crying from fear and stress.

"HOLD ON, I'LL BE RIGHT THERE!" Isaac screamed as he ran into the shuttle.

The armored engineer cut the transmission and closed the hatch behind him. He ran into the cockpit and sat down in the pilot's seat. He quickly typed in a bunch of holographic keys and the shuttle took flight and flew towards the top of the volcano.

Isaac quickly spotted the two dragons and raced down to meet them. He piloted the shuttle right next to Spyro and opened the hatch.

"GET THE FUCK IN HERE!" the engineer called as he dodged falling pillars and other harmful debris.

Cynder caught on to their plan and started flying even faster than she was before.

Spyro gasped at her increased speed and barrel rolled into the advanced space ship.

"Wait for me!" Sparx cried as he flew in just before the hatch closed.

Isaac immediately pulled up once they were inside and Cynder was right behind them. They flew away from the erupting volcano at high speeds as they tried to ram in into each other.

Just when the dragoness was about to smash into the shuttle with all her might, Ignitus flew straight into her and knocked her away.

Isaac slowed the shuttle down and the two brothers ran into the cockpit to see what was happening.

Cynder and Ignitus struggled in the air as they grappled onto each other, each trying to overpower the other. She was able to knock him into a cloud of smoke and she dived right after him.

"Son of a bitch!" Isaac cursed as he turned around to try to aid the Fire Guardian.

They couldn't go too far because Terrador flew right in front of the shuttle. The engineer quickly typed in a few holographic keys and the shuttle stopped.

"We've got to find them… help Ignitus!" Spyro yelled as the engineer activated the outside loudspeakers.

"They're gone, Spyro. There's nothing we can do!" Sparx reasoned with a sympathetic look.

Isaac sighed heavily, but didn't speak a word.

"I don't care… Ignitus wouldn't leave me…." the purple dragon said with hurt in his voice.

"Spyro, he's right." Terrador agreed with Sparx's statement.

The dragonfly was about to say something, but the space engineer ended that idea with a glare behind his four glowing visors.

"You'll never find them in this mess, and you're not ready to face Cynder yet. The time to fight will come… but it is not now." the Earth Guardian continued.

"I guess you're right. Let's go." Spyro said tiredly as a tear slid down his cheek.

Isaac sighed and turned the space shuttle around. He typed in a few holographic buttons and he followed Terrador back to the Temple.


	12. Eyes of the Enemy

**Hello people! I'd just like to say that if you're gonna leave a review, I'd appreciate it if you actually expressed your opinion on the chapter and not just role play and send three or four reviews about pointless crap. Please stop role playing and calling each other out in the reviews, that goes out to everybody. I won't tolerate hate or rant reviews. The review section is meant for reviews, not a chat room. We are all Mother Earth's children, stop the hate and stop the pointless reviews. Save the hate for the politicians, murderers, and rapists. Enjoy the chapter and remember to review expressing your opinion on the chapter.**

Chapter 12: Eyes of the Enemy

Everyone was silent as Isaac piloted the shuttle. No one had anything to say as the ship followed Terrador, who was leading them to the Temple. Even Sparx chose not to speak as they pondered the events from earlier.

The ocean landscape below eventually switched to the familiar swamp as they flew over it. The space engineer sighed after a few minutes of silence and looked at Spyro.

"We're gonna find him, Spyro." Isaac assured confidently with a small nod.

"I hope so…" the purple dragon said quietly as he slumped in his seat and looked at the metal floor.

The armored human sighed again and faced the sky ahead of them.

"Why is she doing this? Why is Cynder helping the Dark Master and trying to kill us? We never did anything to her." Spyro asked quietly as he started sobbing and Sparx gently patted his horn in an effort to comfort him.

"She's not trying to kill us." Isaac replied sternly as he faced him and the dragonfly.

"Huh…?" the purple dragon sniffed as he looked up again at his human friend.

" She's… well… I'll explain when we get to the temple, I promise." the space engineer guaranteed as he rested a gloved hand on the dragon's shoulder.

"Okay…." Spyro agreed with a nod as he looked at the floor again.

Isaac comfortingly patted the dragon's shoulder and returned to piloting the shuttle.

* * *

Cynder dragged Ignitus' unconscious body across her tower roof in Concurrent Skies. She brought him to a large metal machine and hooked him up to it.

His eyes slowly opened to see the black dragoness hook up the crystal that would drain him of his elemental energy. Once everything was in securely place, the crystal began draining his mana and she began walking away. He slowly looked up and stared at her with a at her with a sad expression.

"I'm sorry…." the Fire Guardian apologized weakly and quietly.

Cynder stopped in her tracks and slowly turned around. She looked at the bound fire dragon with a raised eyebrow, silently urging him to elaborate.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save you… on the night of the raid." Ignitus told her with tears in his eyes.

The black dragoness scoffed and walked right up to him so their faces were almost touching. Her hot breath breezed past his face with every breath.

"You don't need to apologize for anything, my dear Guardian." she cooed as she gently held his cheek with her paw, forcing him to look directly at her.

Ignitus sniffed and looked into her eyes, staring into her green orbs. Cynder chuckled and brought their faces even closer.

"I have no love for the Dark Master. I just need to…. make us whole again." she explained sweetly as she smiled at him.

"I-I don't understand." the Fire Guardian stuttered as he felt weaker and weaker every passing moment because of the crystal.

He tried to move away, but he was just too exhausted to make any successful attempts.

Cynder chuckled at his futile attempts and licked his nose, making his red scales on his cheeks look even redder as he blushed.

"You will find out in time. Just sit back, relax, and let the machine do it's job." the black dragoness murmured sweetly as she patted his head.

Ignitus simply stared at her with a very nervous and unsettled expression. Cynder laughed quietly and walked away, leaving him to be drained.

The dark dragoness took flight and flew to a balcony on a separate tower. She landed and opened the door in front of her.

"Home sweet home." Cynder stated with a smile as she walked into her sleeping quarters and shut the door behind her with a flick of her tail.

The bedroom was heavily decorated with fancy ornaments and a crimson rug covered the floor. A bookshelf could be seen to her right and a desk to the left. There was a large queen sized sleeping pillow with a black blanket on the other end of the bedroom. A closet could be seen in one corner of the room that was used to store her armor and other collectables she found on her travels.

Cynder sighed happily as she lit a candle on the table and layed down on her sleeping pillow. She smiled happily as she pulled the blankets over herself to get warm and closed her eyes to sleep.

"Goodnight, honey. Have sweet dreams." Cynder's father said in a soothing voice as he gently rubbed her cheek.

"Goodnight, daddy." the black dragoness replied as her smile widened from his fatherly.

Her father smiled and kissed her forehead. He softly patted her shoulder before he turned to leave. He walked to the exit and looked over his shoulder to look at her one last time before departing.

"Make us whole again." he said quietly before leaving.

"I will, daddy." Cynder whispered before going to sleep.

* * *

Isaac sighed quietly as he flew the space shuttle. They have been flying for awhile with absolutely nothing exiting happening. He looked to his right to see Spyro and Sparx sleeping in the passenger seat. He smiled behind his helmet and put the shuttle on autopilot.

The space engineer placed his hands on the helmet's sides and pulled it off with pressurized hiss, revealing his bruised face. He set the helmet on the floor to his left and grabbed a can of soup.

He opened the food can, grabbed a metal spoon, and started eating. It didn't take long for him to down the whole can and he chucked it in the waste chute to his left.

The armored human brushed his gloved fingers through his short black hair as he watched Terrador flying ahead of them.

He reached for his helmet and rested it securely over his head. The brown helmet sealed in place and it's wearer went back to piloting the shuttle after he turned the autopilot off.

Spyro groaned quietly as his eyes fluttered open. He sat up and looked out the windshield at Terrador. He opened his mouth wide open and yawned, unintentionally showing off his pealy white teeth.

"Sleep well?" Isaac asked as he typed in a few holographic keys.

"Yeah, I did actually." Spyro replied with a smile as he started stretching.

He sighed in relief when his bones popped into place. Once he was all set, he sat back down again.

"That's good to hear." the space engineer commented with a chuckle.

"How long have I been asleep?" Spyro asked as he looked at Sparx, who was sleeping on the chair's armrest.

"A little over half an hour" Isaac replied before his clearing his throat.

The purple dragon nodded in understanding and leaned back in his seat. For a long while, they were both quiet. The both simply looked at the night sky ahead of them. Finally, Spyro broke the silence.

"What were those things you fought before you came here?" he asked curiously.

"The scientists on the Ishimura called them necromorphs. A fitting name, considering." Isaac recalled with a shiver.

"What were these necromorphs exactly?" the purple dragon asked as he sat up again.

"I guess I should tell you. You have every right to know." the space engineer said with a quiet sigh.

He turned on the ship's autopilot and faced the dragon next to him.

"Necromorphs are… reanimated corpses that change… becoming something… less than human." he explained with a very uncomfortable tone of voice.

"W-what do you mean?" Spyro stuttered as he observed his friend's reaction to his question.

"Once a corpse is infected with the necromorph pathogen, the body… transforms. The changes vary with each dead body, but they all have one purpose. Make more dead bodies." Isaac explained with a heavy sigh at the end.

The purple dragon was horrified by this revelation and looked at the survivor with newfound respect.

"I saw many horrible things on that damn ship. No one was spared, not innocents, not health patients, not even children were spared from transforming. I had to dismember babies just to survive. I had no choice." the engineer explained as he rested his armored head on his palm.

"I'm sorry…" Spyro apologized, regretting asking the question in the first place.

"No one survived. As far as I know. My friends and girlfriend were all butchered or killed themselves. I'm the only one who lived." Isaac continued after a short pause.

He activated his RIG's computer interface and began looking through his saved files.

"What are you doing?" Spyro asked as he watched the holographic computer.

"I want you to hear something. This is an audio log from a doctor named… Dr. Chalus Mercer." the armored engineer explained, feeling uneasy about the insane doctor who tried to kill him.

He activated the audio log and it replayed the message.

"I finally convinced Jurgens to show me the video feed from the colony. And what I saw was glorious. Breathtaking. Miners undergoing a transformation into something extraordinary. I must know more. Even the believer within me wants to become one of them; the scientist needs to uncover their secrets. I need to study one of these… necromorphs, as Kyne so clinically puts it. I need to witness this infection first hand. Perhaps that patient from the colony…" the audio log abruptly cut off at the end.

Spyro's eyes were wide and he felt himself feeling more uneased by the second. Something didn't seem write with that doctor.

Isaac brought up his files again and searched through them.

"This is the same guy." he sighed before playing the audio log.

The log started with the sounds of a man struggling.

"Personal log, Dr. Chalus Mercer. I now have a live subject for my study. I'm eager to validate my tissue regeneration theory. Initial restraint was problematic, but now the patient is resting comfortably. HE trusts me, Doctor Kyne. He puts his life in MY hands! He knows his part in all of this, understands what I'm doing!" Mercer's voice explained loudly.

"LET ME OUT OF HERE, PLEASE!" the patient screamed in fear.

"The forehead has been swabbed, cleaned, and marked…" the doctor explained calmly as a low electronic whirring was heard.

"What are you… what are you doing with that?" the unknown man asked fearfully as the noise of a drill was heard, gradually getting louder and louder.

"…and I am now attempting to create a passage to insert the sample into…" Mercer mumbled as the drilling noise was accompanied by a loud grinding noise.

"No! No! Nooaaaaaahhhhh-" the patient screamed in fear and agony before the audio log was cut off.

Spyro was shaking with shock and fear at what he just heard. He felt like he was gonna throw up at any moment.

"The necromorphs weren't the only monsters on the ship." Isaac explained quietly with his head down.

Spyro ran out of his seat and embraced the space engineer in a tight hug. He started sobbing as he buried his face in Isaac's shoulder.

The armored human slowly returned the hug and comfortingly rocked the purple dragon back and forth.

"Shhh… it's okay. I'm here, I'm alright." he comforted softly as he held the young dragon closely.

Spyro sniffed as he closed his eyes and allowed himself to be embraced by the lone-survivor.

'Poor kid, I didn't mean to scare him like this.' Isaac thought regrettably.

They felt the ship lower and land on the ground as Terrador glided down in front of the Temple.

"We'll be out in a bit." the armored engineer said into the loud speaker as he looked into the windshield at them.

The Earth Guardian nodded in understanding and walked into the stone building.

Isaac sighed and continued rocking Spyro comfortingly. After a few minutes, they both fell asleep in each other's embrace.


	13. Back at the Temple

**Hey, I've written another chapter for you all! I've realized that I've just been guessing on what the parts of a space ship are called and I think that's too lazy. So, I decided to do a little… well… a lot of research. Now the names of the ship and equipment will be more accurate and properly named. Enjoy the chapter.**

Chapter 13: Back at the Temple

Cynder's eyes fluttered open as she woke up in her large bed. She sat up and stretched as she gave a big yawn, showing off her pearly white teeth.

She closed her mouth and sat up on her bed, looking around her room, which is being lit by a single candle. Her head snapped to the door however when there was a knock.

"Breakfast!" a female voice called cheerfully from the other end.

"Come in!" Cynder beckoned them in with a smile.

A female ape with light brown fur opened the door and came in with a tray of fancy bread and meat. The ape carefully set the tray in front of Cynder.

"Thank you, Simia. You may go now." the dark dragoness shooed as she dragged her meal closer to herself.

"Yes, mistress." Simia said as she bowed in respect before scampering out of the room without another word.

'I'll never get tired of being called that.' Cynder thought to herself with a playful chuckle.

The black dragoness licked her lips hungrily and started eating her steaming hot breakfast.

"Death is the prime objective…" a male voice whispered speedily.

'Not this again…' Cynder thought with a groan.

"Voice analysis of the audio log detects various indicators of positive communication and physical behavior." a female voice whispered in an almost incomprehensible speed.

"Just leave me alone!" the black dragoness yelled as she stood up and her eyes darted around the room.

Silence.

There was no whispers, no static noises, and no distorted lullabies. The only sound there was, was her heavy breathing. She sighed quietly and sat down on her bed again.

'What is wrong with me…?' Cynder thought worriedly to herself.

She sighed quietly and continued eating her breakfast in peace.

* * *

Isaac groaned quietly as he woke up. He slowly opened his eyes to see the sun shining through the shuttle's windshield and that it was early in the morning.

He looked to his right to see Spyro and Sparx sound asleep in the passenger seat next to him. He smiled behind his brown space helmet and stood up.

The space engineer walked into the mid-deck behind him and activated the work bench that is built into the wall. He placed the spirit gem shards he collected at Munitions Forge on the metal surface and got to work converting them into ammo for his tools.

He heard the door slide open behind him and looked over his shoulder to see Spyro walking into the room.

"Sparx still sleeping?" he asked when he noticed the dragonfly's absence.

"Like a baby." the purple dragon chuckled as he walked up to the work bench.

Isaac snorted at his answer and went back to work on making ammunition. Spyro watched him melt the crystals and put them in the ammo clips with interest.

Once all the clips were filled with new energy, the armored engineer placed them in his inventory and faced his dragon friend.

"We should probably talk with the Guardians about Cynder and Ignitus." he asked softly, not wanting to upset the dragon.

"Yeah… let's go." Spyro sighed before exiting through the hatch with the armored human close behind.

They walked outside together and into the temple until they made their way to the Pool of Visions room. They entered the room to see Volteer, Cyril, and Terrador speaking to one another around the pool.

The Guardians stopped talking and looked at the purple dragon and engineer as they approached them.

"Hello, you two. How do you feel?" Cyril greeted.

"Do you really have to ask that?" Isaac grumbled as he shifted his body weight from one foot to the other.

"It's my fault… I failed Ignitus where he needed me most. It's just that the sight of Cynder so close, just… just" Spyro said regrettably as a cold shiver raced up his spine.

"…made your heart stop? Put ice in your veins? Scared the crud out of you?" Sparx asked as he flew into the room.

"Sparx, now is not the time!" Isaac snapped angrily.

The dragonfly flinched at the engineer's sharp outburst and immediately stopped talking.

"All warriors feel fear at one time or another, Spyro. There is no shame in that." Terrador comforted.

"Same goes to engineers like me." Isaac added with a nod of agreement.

"Yes, it's a proven scientific fact that the quotient between adrenaline and trepidation…" the Electric Guardian rambled.

"Volteer, please, I believe our good friends here were trying to make a point." Cyril interrupted grumpily.

"Thank you, Cyril." Terrador said gratefully to the Ice Guardian.

The Earth Guardian quietly cleared his throat and turned to face Spyro again.

"What I was going to say is that all warriors feel fear, Spyro, but only the most valiant among us can face that fear… and master it." Terrador explained finally.

"To put it in similar terms, use it to your advantage. Fear means you're more cautious and are more wary of your environment." the space engineer spoke out of experience.

"Isaac is right. From what I saw of you on Munitions Forge, you are one such warrior." the Earth Guardian praised as Spyro looked at him and Isaac with wide eyes.

The armored engineer smiled behind his helmet and rested a gloved hand on the purple dragon's shoulder.

"Young dragon, now is the time to complete your training… now is the time to face your fear. Come." Terrador spoke as he walked to the training room with Spyro close behind.

"Am I the only one still petrified?" Sparx asked before flying after the two dragons.

The stone door slid shut once Spyro, Terrador, and Sparx left the room.

"Now that they are gone, I would like to ask you a few questions about your species and technology." Volteer said excitedly as he walked up to the armored human.

'Oh fuck!' Isaac screamed in his head, but nodded anyway.

"What do you do for a living? Where do you come from? What are you exactly? What do you look like under that armor? How can you see through those glowing lines on your face? How does your ship fly? Are we friends?" the Electric Guardian sped very quickly as he bounced up and down with excitement.

"Okay, first off… calm the fuck down. Second… what?" the space engineer said as Cyril chuckled.

"He asked you what you are and how your stuff works, my dear boy." Cyril explained in simpler terms.

"Fine… I'm a human from planet Earth… and like I said before, I've seen a lot of horrible shit." Isaac said dismissively.

"But what about that armor you're wearing? What does it do exactly?" Volteer asked more slowly than before so they could keep up with what he was saying.

"It makes it so I can go into space and… not suffocate." the armored engineer explained awkwardly.

"But how can you see through those glowing visors?" the Electric Guardian questioned with interest.

"I find myself curious as well." Cyril said in agreement.

"These visors are more or less scanners actually. They are linked to a retina projector that allows me to see everything behind them. It's as if I'm not even wearing a helmet when it comes to vision." Isaac explained in the simplest terms he could.

"That's remarkable, amazing, stupendous, extravagant…" Volteer rambled until Cyril clamped his muzzle shut with his paw.

"That is very interesting, truly." the Ice Guardian said with a smile as the Electric Guardian still tried to talk, despite the obstruction around his mouth.

"Right, well I'm going to the executive shuttle now. Send someone over when it's time to go." the space engineer told them both.

"Will do." Cyril promised with a small nod as he finally released Volteer's maw.

Isaac nodded as well and left the Pool of Visions room. He wandered outside and entered his parked shuttle. He walked into the flight deck room and plopped down in the pilot's seat.

He pressed a few buttons and all the holographic keys popped up on the dashboard as well as a blank holographic display in front of him. The screen showed nothing, but static for a bit. After a few seconds however, a woman's face appeared.

"Isaac, it's me. I wish I could talk to you. I'm sorry. I'm sorry about everything. I wish I could just talk to someone… it's all falling apart here; I can't believe what's happening… it's strange… such a little thing…" the woman said before Isaac abruptly ended the log.

He rested his forehead in the palm of his right hand and started sobbing quietly. He didn't know how long he was crying, but he really didn't care, he was in too much emotional pain to give a damn.

A bloodstained Nicole walked into the room with glowing white eyes and a white glow coming out of her mouth. She approached Isaac and rested her blood covered hands on his armored shoulders.

"Make us whole again…" she whispered darkly.

"Just go away." Isaac begged quietly as tears leaked out of his eyes.

Nicole screeched loudly before disappearing all of a sudden, leaving the engineer to mope in his misery and sadness.

After an untold amount of time, he heard soft knocking on the windshield. He looked up to see Terrador standing outside with a look of sympathy. It was at that point that he noticed that he left the loudspeakers on and could easily be heard from outside the ship.

"Can you come out here, Isaac?" the Earth Guardian asked gently.

The space engineer nodded with a sniff and got up. He exited the shuttle through the hatch and walked up to the massive green dragon.

"Are you alright? We are starting to get worried about you." Terrador said as he nodded towards everyone at the Temple's entrance.

The space engineer looked at everyone to see that they were giving him worried looks and sympathetic stares.

"I'm feeling really shitty to be completely honest." Isaac stated with a heavy sigh through his space helmet.

"Would you like to talk about it?" Terrador asked soothingly.

"…No…" the armored human responded after a short wait.

Terrador sighed and beckoned for Spyro and Sparx to come over, who did so without hesitation.

"Your next destination is Cynder's lair in Concurrent Skies. You three are to go there and free Ignitus." the Earth dragon informed him.

"I have a question. Why don't you ever fucking help us out? We always do all of your work and you only help us by pointing which way to go!" Isaac yelled angrily.

"Because Cynder's crystals drained us of almost all of our energy. I'm not even sure if we'll ever be able to fight again." Terrador answered sternly, but understanding the human's frustration.

"I'm a fucking engineer and I survived a ship where highly trained space naval soldiers were ripped limb from fucking limb! I think you can lend us a hand." the space engineer argued before storming into the shuttle and started the engines.

The Earth Guardian sighed and looked at the two brothers beside him.

"Go on. You mine as well go now." he told them with a tired frown as he motioned to the ship in front of them.

Spyro nodded and entered the hatch with Sparx close behind. They entered the flight deck room to see Isaac typing in a few holographic keys.

"Ready to go?" Isaac asked a lot more nicely than how he spoke to Terrador a few moments ago.

"I guess so." Spyro confirmed as he sat down in the passenger seat and Sparx resting on his head.

"Alright, let's go." the armored engineer said as he typed in some more yellow keys and the ship slowly lifted up into the air.

The shuttle turned towards their destination and they were off to Concurrent Skies, where hope goes to die.


	14. No Hope

**Here's another chapter for you readers! This story is taking a lot longer to write then I thought it would. I'm sorry that I haven't been able to update as much as I used to, but I've been getting a lot of school assignments and pointless drama from people. I almost never get a chance to write during the weekdays and even the weekends sometimes. Thank you for your patience and like always, enjoy the chapter.**

Chapter 14: No Hope

Isaac has been flying the shuttle for a couple hours now. The swampy terrain was replaced by crystallized mountains and landscapes about an hour ago. The sky became dark with rainclouds and pinkish-purplish lightning struck every once and awhile.

After a long silence, the space engineer cleared his throat and looked at the two brothers in the passenger seat.

"Is there any specific way you want to go about this or do you wanna just gun it?" he asked as he put the ship on autopilot for the time being.

"Doesn't matter to me." Spyro shrugged as he looked at the crystal terrain before them.

"We could try, you know, flying directly to our destination instead of fight a ton of bad guys." Sparx suggested sarcastically.

Isaac was about to scold the dragonfly for his idiotic suggestion, but his eyes widened however when he realized that they could have done that the entire time when rescuing the other Guardians.

"FUCK!" he roared in frustration as Spyro and Sparx openly laughed at his outburst.

"Didn't think of that, did ya!" the dragonfly laughed as the engineer glared at them through his blue visors.

"You're pissing me off, Sparx!" Isaac yelled angrily.

"GOOD!" the yellow dragonfly yelled before going into a fit of laughter.

The space engineer groaned and looked out the windshield as he turned the autopilot off. His muscles went stiff however when he saw what was ahead of them.

"Oh shit…" he said quietly as Spyro and Sparx gasped at what he was looking at.

Cynder was flying in the dark sky, almost hidden in the storm clouds. She looked directly at the ship and bolted towards them.

"Brace for impact!" Isaac screamed as he and the passengers held onto their seats in a death grip and shut their eyes.

There was a loud thud, but the ship was still airborne and intact. The three friends opened their eyes to see Cynder smiling at them as she latched onto the ship, peering through the windshield.

"Hello, pets." she cooed with a dark grin.

"P-pets?" Spyro asked quietly with a whimper.

"Get the fuck off my ship!" Isaac yelled before she could explain to Spyro what she meant.

"Such rebellion will only make things harder on yourselves. Just give up and I'll take care of you." the black dragoness pleaded as she looked at them with her green orbs.

The purple dragon shook with fear, but he remembered what Terrador told him and stood his ground. Cynder noticed this and flashed him a toothy grin.

"Just give up and submit. I'll take good care of you. I'll feed you, house you, and give you plenty of love." she offered with a sweet tone of voice, making everyone shiver.

"I-Isaac… what is s-she talking about…?" the purple dragon stuttered as he stared at the smiling dragoness, unable to turn away.

"What, he didn't tell you? I already explained to him how you three will become my pets. My toys." Cynder laughed before the space engineer could answer.

"I didn't wanna worry you." Isaac confessed as Spyro's eyes started tearing up.

"I'll give you three some time to think about my generous offer. Until then, I must make as whole." the evil dragoness told them, her smile never receding.

"What?" Isaac asked quietly as he felt his blood run cold.

Cynder just chuckled and let go of the shuttle. She gave them a wink and flew back to her tower.

'I really hope she didn't mean what I think she meant.' the armored human thought to himself with a visible shiver.

He shakily typed in a few holographic keys and the ship landed on the ground, right next to the tower's entrance. He sighed heavily as he leaned back in his seat.

"I'm sorry, Spyro. I should've told you earlier." the space engineer apologized as he looked at said dragon.

"It's okay. I appreciate your concern." the purple dragon replied with a small smile.

"Thanks…. but she said… make us whole… " Isaac said nervously

"What's did she mean by that?" Spyro asked curiously.

"Only people with the Marker's influence say that in the way she did." the armored engineer answered with a sigh.

"Do you think it's here?" the young dragon asked worriedly.

"I don't know." The armored human answered after a short silence.

The two brothers gulped nervously as a cold chill ran up their spines.

We should probably head out." Isaac sighed as a large ape with white fur stormed out of the tower entrance and stared directly at them.

"I'll take care of the apes. I'll be right back." Spyro said as he stood up and walked out, wanting to focus his mind on the task at hand.

"Do you think we could fly up to the tower's roof?" Sparx asked curiously as they watched the young dragon fight the large ape outside the ship.

"Yeah, but these winds worry me. I don't think I'll be able to fly all the way up to the top." Isaac answered as he looked at the storm clouds.

"I guess we'll have to talk to Spyro about it." the dragonfly figured as Spyro finished off the ape and entered the shuttle through the hatch.

The door slid open behind them and Spyro took his seat next to Isaac.

"So, are we gonna fly up or go through the tower?" he asked curiously.

"I can fly the shuttle pretty high up, but I can't get to the roof because of this damn storm. I should be able to get at least half way up there though." the armored engineer explained calmly.

"Okay, let's do it." the purple dragon nodded in agreement with a look of determination.

Isaac nodded as well and typed in a few holographic keys, powering the ship up again. The shuttle lifted up off of the ground and flew up in a seventy-five degree angle.

The ship started to shake a little the higher they went and Isaac evened their altitude when they got about half way up.

"I can't go any higher. We need to land." he told Spyro and Sparx as he the shuttle went to a dead stop and he stood up.

"Where are you going, big guy?" Sparx asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm gonna –HOLY SHIT!" Isaac was interrupted when Cynder bolted past the ship and effortlessly flew up to the tower's roof.

"I think I just had a heart attack." Sparx gasped as they watched the dragoness fly off.

'How can she fly that high in this weather?" the armored human questioned in his head.

"Um… so what were you saying?" Spyro asked shakily, hoping to get back on track.

"Right, I'm gonna blow a hole in the fuckin wall." Isaac informed them before heading into the mid-deck behind them.

He pressed a button in the wall and a holographic screen popped up, displaying everything in front of the shuttle.

"Asteroid Defense System now online." the female computer voice informed loudly as the ADS cannons' joysticks slid out the wall.

The armored engineer took hold of them and two blue laser sights beamed out from underneath the ship.

"Whoa…" he heard Spyro and Sparx say in astonishment as two medium sized cannons came into their view.

He chuckled as he aimed the blue lights at the tower wall. With a deep breath, he held his thumbs down, pressing the buttons on top of the joysticks.

The rounds within the cannons were electromagnetically catapulted out of the barrels and bolted right into the tower. He kept shooting until the entire portion of the building was covered in a shroud of gray dust. He ceased firing and waited for the dust cloud to dissipate.

After a few moments, the dust gradually cleared away, revealing a large open spaced room. Isaac went back into the flight deck and sat back down in his seat. He flew up right next to the entrance he created and opened the hatch.

"You and Sparx go into the tower. I need to find a place to park the shuttle." the armored human told Spyro.

"Okay, Isaac. Be careful." the purple dragon reluctantly agreed as he stood up.

He left the ship through the open hatch and flew into the tower with Sparx close behind.

Isaac typed in a few keys and the hatch closed behind them. He maneuvered the ship away from the tower and searched for an alternate landing zone. After a couple minutes of searching, he found a large crystal platform near the entrance of a much larger tower.

'This works.' the space engineer thought to himself as he landed in front of the large set of stairs leading to the tower.

He stood up from his seat and entered the mid-deck. He used his work bench to upgrade his plasma cutter so he could have twenty shots in a single clip before he left through the hatch.

Isaac raised his plasma cutter and scanned the area for dangers. He heard the sound of footsteps coming from inside the tower and aimed at the top of the stairs.

A tall suit of armor with pinkish electricity glowing under the joints and on it's face exited the tower and stared at the space engineer.

The Electric King decided not to waste any more time and summoned a pink electric barrier around itself. Deciding not to waste ammo, the armored human chose to wait and see what the electric spirit would do.

The creature began shooting electrified crystals at Isaac, which he easily dodged by jogging out tf the way. He quickly switched to his pulse rifle and aimed the blue laser sights at the creature as the electrical barrier disappeared.

The creature moaned in pain as the engineer released a steady burst of automatic fire at it's limbs, obviously damaging it. The monster quickly brought up another electric barrier and shot more crystals at him.

'Repetitive son of a bitch.' Isaac thought to himself as he side stepped the shards and waited for the creature's defensive barrier to wear off.

Once the Electric King lowered it's electrical shield, the armored engineer started shooting again, easily damaging it. Just like last time, it raised it's pinkish barrier and shot crystal shards him.

Isaac screamed in shock and pain however when one of the shards hit him in the shoulder. The hit immediately brought his health bar to yellow.

'Shit, I need to end this quickly.' he thought to himself as he willed his RIG to use a large med kit from his inventory, bringing his health bar back to eight blue bars.

The electric shield finally evaporated and Isaac wasted no time. He quickly took aim and emptied his entire clip into the Electric King, determined to end the fight as quickly as possible.

When the barrels clicked and the laser sights turned red, the electric spirit was covered in bullet holes and missing it's left arm. It shakily stood there for a moment, but soon fell to the ground. It let out one final gasp of air before exploding into a dozen gem shards.

'I'll leave those for Spyro when he gets here.' the armored engineer thought to himself as he looked at the glowing spirit gems.

The armored human reloaded his pulse rifle and switched to his fully upgraded plasma cutter. He sat on one of the stairs' steps with a sigh and brought up his RIG's holographic displays. The blue tinted image of Spyro's face popped up after a few short moments of waiting.

"Hi, Isaac. Did you find a place to land?" the blue tinted dragon asked as Sparx flew in the background.

"Yeah, I found a natural platform at the entrance to the main tower. I just killed the gate keeper, for lack of a better term." the armored human replied as he got more comfortable.

"Are you gonna wait for us there?" Sparx asked as he flew next to Spyro's head.

"No. I'm gonna um… I'll clear a path for you and wait when I'm close to Ignitus." Isaac explained as he looked around the area, making sure that all the dangers were dealt with.

"Do you really think it's a good idea to travel alone in a place like this?" the dragon asked with a worried expression.

"No, but hey…. I'm full of bad ideas." the space engineer shrugged as he stood up.

"Just be careful. I don't wanna lose you too." Spyro told him with a serious expression.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be careful, I promise." Isaac guaranteed with a nod.

The blue tinted dragon nodded as well and the transmission ended. The armored engineer sighed once the video feed ended and faced the dark tower.

"Here we go…" he said quietly as he walked up the rest of the steps.

Isaac aimed his plasma cutter through the open door, using it's built in flashlight to light the dark room. He breathed steadily in preparation and walked through the dark doorway.


	15. Alone in the Darkness

**Once again, I have written another chapter for your enjoyment. It really does amaze me just how many people actually read my stories. I haven't done it in awhile so I wanna thank all you wonderful people for reading, reviewing, and PMing me. You readers always put a smile on my face. Enjoy the chapter, my friends!**

Chapter 15: Alone in the Darkness

Isaac Clarke entered the dark tower with his plasma cutter lighting the way. It was completely quiet. The only sounds that could be heard, was his own breathing and heavy footsteps.

He walked down the dark hallway until he found himself in a large open spaced room. The only places he could see was whatever his plasma cutter was pointing at.

The armored engineer scanned the room until he heard the screech of an ape. He quickly pointed at the source of the sound and found a large ape standing in the middle of the dark room.

The ape raised a staff it was holding and red energy shot out of it and hit six purplish red crystals in unison. Isaac noticed that pinkish electricity was harmlessly shooting into the floor below the primate. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the floor was some kind of elevator or platform.

'Something tells me that I can't go up that while those crystals are powered up.' the space engineer thought to himself as he aimed at the white furred creature before him.

The ape screeched again and threw a stick of dynamite at him, but he armored human easily caught it with his kinesis gun and pushed the explosive right back to it's owner. The primate yelped in surprise before the dynamite exploded. Once the dust cleared, only the charred organs and bones of the ape remained.

After the ape met it's end, all of the crystals ceased glowing there red aura, but they still flowed pinkish electricity into the elevator.

'Killing the fur-bitches powers down the crystals. Good to know.' Isaac thought to himself.

One by one, the armored engineer curb stomped the crystals with loud grunts and shouts, destroying them in the process. Once all of the crystals were shattered, he stepped onto the elevator.

'I really hope Cynder doesn't somehow find me here. How the fuck did she experience the Marker's influence anyway? Is it somehow on this planet? Is the Black Marker here? …No, I destroyed the Marker… this place is safe… it's safe.' Isaac thought nervously as the elevator started to ascend.

The armored engineer's thoughts were disrupted however when a bunch of apes jumped from the level above and landed all around him. He quickly switched to his contact beam and readied it. He pressed the tool's barrel against the ground and activated it's secondary fire, blasting the ape's off the elevator with it's ground based kinetic shockwave.

Isaac reloaded the contact beam once all the apes fell to their deaths and switched to his pulse rifle.

Once the elevator reached the next level and stopped, a bunch of violet-red crystals held the elevator in place. Isaac turned on his weapon's lights and scanned the area for dangers. A bunch of apes ran out of the darkness and charged towards him, but they were easily brought down by a hail of automatic gunfire.

Once the ape's were nothing more than dismembered corpses, Isaac started smashing the crystals that were keeping the elevator from continuing. It didn't take long for him to destroy the magical crystals and he stepped back onto the platform.

'How the hell can Cynder even see in this place?' Isaac asked himself as he used his pulse rifle as a flashlight and the elevator moved upwards again.

By the time the platform reached the next level, more crystals held it in place. Unlike the two floors below, there were no apes in the room and there was a hallway directly ahead.

'I better see what's over there.' the armored human thought as he switched to his plasma cutter and stepped off the elevator.

Breathing heavily, he aimed his tool ahead as he cautiously entered the dark hallway. He walked down the curved hallway until he saw a doorway to the side with a light shining out of it. Deciding to play it safe, the space engineer lowered his plasma cutter and hid behind the doorway.

"Yes, daddy, I promise that I'll make us whole again." he heard Cynder's voice in the other room.

'Oh no…' Isaac thought in despair, knowing full well what was going on.

The armored human didn't hear the dark dragoness anymore after that thought, however. He waited in silence for awhile to make sure she was gone and heard nothing. When he was about to leave, he decided to take a quick peek inside just to make sure no one was there.

He slowly craned his neck to look into the doorway only to come face to helmet with Cynder herself.

"It's impolite to eavesdrop." she scolded like a parent scolds a hatchling as her two green orbs looked into his four glowing blue visors.

'Fuck this!' Isaac screamed in his head as he whipped around to run to the elevator.

"Not so fast!" Cynder yelled before opening her mouth and blasting him with a banshee shriek to freeze him, much like when they first met.

'Not again.' the armored engineer thought with a groan as he felt his muscles lock into place, leaving him completely immobilized.

The black dragoness giggled at his helplessness as she slowly circled around him so they were facing each other again.

"You've definitely come a long way since we first met. You rescued two Guardians, befriended the purple dragon of legend, became enemies with the Dark Master, and walked right into my doorstep without fear." Cynder praised with a smile.

"Listen to me, I know that you're seeing your dad and he's telling you to do these things, but you can't listen to him." the armored engineer reasoned.

"And why not?" she asked with a frown, all sweetness in her voice washing away.

"Because he's not really there. It's a hallucination from the Marker." Isaac told her, hoping desperately that she would see reason.

"What do you know about the Marker!?" she snapped as she stormed up to him so that they were almost touching.

"More than I want to. There was a red one on a planet called Aegis VII. It made people hallucinate like you are now, but they started killing themselves and others because there hallucinations drove them mad." the space engineer explained with a shaky voice, remembering all those people and RIG logs he saw off people murdering themselves and others.

"No… daddy wouldn't make me do that. He's real and he's trying to help!" Cynder yelled in denial.

"Please believe me. I don't want you to end up like the colonists or the crew from the Ishimura." Isaac beseeched.

"Why should I believe anything you say?" the dark dragoness asked with a sneer.

"Because I see the hallucinations too! My dead girlfriend is standing right behind you as we speak!" Isaac shouted as Nicole indeed stood behind the dragoness.

"Make… us… whole…" the medical officer hissed as her eyes and mouth glowed with a white shine.

Cynder quickly turned around, only to see that no one was there. She adopted a look of confusion and turned back to face Isaac.

"I… I don't believe you! Daddy wouldn't hurt me!" Cynder screamed with tears in her eyes before she ran off into the dark hallway.

'That could've gone better.' the armored human thought to himself as he felt his limbs return to normal.

Isaac sighed as he rolled his shoulders and flexed his fingers. He looked up to see that Nicole was still standing there and looking directly at him.

"Get out of my head. You're not real." he growled as he took out his plasma cutter.

"MAKE US WHOLE, ISAAC!" Nicole screeched before fading away into the darkness.

The armored engineer groaned and breathed heavily as he held his pounding forehead with his freehand. Once his headache ceased it's merciless assault, he lowered his hand and sighed.

'I really hope she doesn't do something we'll all regret.' he thought as he looked down the way Cynder ran.

Deciding not to chase after her, Isaac faced the way he came and aimed down the hall, lighting the way with his plasma cutter's light. He walked forward as he scanned the hall for dangers, but the only sounds that could be heard were his heavy breathing and the loud footsteps from his metal boots.

After a few moments of eerie travel, he made it back into the room with the elevator. As he was scanning the room, he found Spyro sitting on the elevator with Sparx flying right behind him. He also noticed that the crystals have already been smashed and inoperable.

"Isaac! It's good to see you again." the purple dragon greeted with a happy smile as he stood up.

"So, what've you been up to, tin man?" Sparx asked with a chuckle.

"It's good to see you too. I've ugh… I just had a little chat with Cynder." Isaac told them as he motioned towards the hallway behind him.

"The crazy she-dragon!?" the dragonfly asked in shock before the engineer nodded in confirmation.

"What did you two talk about?" Spyro asked with a disturbed expression.

"Remember how I told you about the Marker's influence and how Cynder was displaying those symptoms? I told her about that." Isaac told them with a sigh at the end.

"I doubt she took it well." Sparx commented with his arms crossed.

"Not even a little. She didn't believe me and ran off crying." the armored human informed them.

"Cynder… cried…?" the purple dragon asked with a flabbergasted expression.

"Yeah, she thought her father was talking to her and she cried when I told her the truth." Isaac said with a sad tone of voice.

The three heroes stood there in silence after that, each thinking about their predicament. They all realized just how serious this situation just got. After a long while, Isaac cleared his throat to gain the others' attention.

"We should probably keep moving. Ignitus still needs our help." he suggested as he shifted his body weight from one foot to the other.

"Yeah, you're right. Let's go." Spyro agreed with a nod.

The three companions turned towards there destination and stepped onto the elevator. Once they were all on, except for Sparx who was flying, the elevator started moving upwards.

The elevator stopped once again when it reached the next level. The purplish red crystals held the lift in place as a bunch of apes entered the room with their weapons at the ready.

Spyro charged towards the apes on the left side of the room while Isaac aimed at the enemies on the right with his now equipped pulse rifle. The space engineer fired upon the apes on his side as the purple dragon used his earth and electric elements on the others.

Once all the apes were defeated or dismembered, Spyro ran to the now vulnerable crystals and started smashing them.

"Hold up a sec!" Isaac called before the purple dragon could destroy the last one.

"What's wrong, Isaac? What are you doing?" Spyro asked as the engineer took out his plasma cutter and aimed at the crystal.

Before he answered, Isaac carefully shot the crystal and placed one of the shards in his inventory.

"Those crystals seem to have some decent power in them. I might be able to make my ship compatible with outer space if I use it to fix it." the armored human explained as they got back on the elevator.

"That's a clever idea." Sparx praised with a small smile.

"Thanks." the space engineer chuckled as he reloaded his plasma cutter.

They stayed in silence for a little while, each thinking about what lies ahead.

"This is it, isn't it? This is gonna end tonight," the purple dragon said nervously as he looked up at the levels above.

"I don't know, but whatever happens, I'll protect you." Isaac said soothingly as he rested his gloved hand on his shoulder.

Spyro smiled from the engineer's touch and they all looked up as they began to see the outside clouds of Concurrent Skies.


	16. The Marker Knows All

**Hello all of you readers out there! As you can all probably guess, this story is nearing its end. This fic took WAY longer to write than I thought it would and I apologize for that. Now that the holidays are approaching however, I should be able to update at least a bit more frequently. Enjoy the chapter, and remember to review n' shit like that!**

Chapter 16: The Marker Knows All

The elevator slowly came to a stop once it reached the top of the tower and Spyro nervously looked around the area as Isaac scanned the area for dangers with his plasma cutter. Their sights eventually stopped at a passed out Ignitus that is being lifted up into the air via pink energy.

The purple dragon stared wide eyed at the unconscious dragon he and slowly approached the Fire Guardian.

"Spyro…" Sparx said nervously as his brother approached the evil pink energy.

"We're being watched." Isaac warned quietly as he tried to find the threat with his tool's flashlight.

"Uh… Spyro…" the dragonfly tried again as his brother continued walking towards the cage.

"What?" Spyro asked impatiently, thinking that they were the only ones there.

What none of them say however, was that Cynder was watching them from a higher part of the tower.

"I don't like this… it feels like she's baiting us. I'm getting smarter." Sparx said in both warning and realization.

"He's right. Been in plenty of ambushes to know when it's the quiet before the storm." Isaac informed them, remembering all those quarantines he experienced on the Ishimura, as he stood close behind them.

None of them saw it, but upon saying that, Cynder stealthily took flight to watch them from another position on the tower.

Ignitus slowly came to and noticed the three companions' presence before him.

"Spyro… Isaac… destroy the crystal… quickly." the Fire Guardian instructed them, sounding very weak and tired.

"Let's get him out of here before Cynder gets back!" the purple dragon told his friends as he got ready to free Ignitus.

Just when they started moving forward, Cynder herself walked out into the open and blocked their path.

"If only life were that easy, little one." the dark dragoness cooed, sending a shiver of fear up Spyro's spine.

"S-s-s-s-s-s-so… b-b-b-b-b-big…" Sparx stuttered in obvious terror as he hid behind his brother.

"Oh shit." Isaac said quietly as he protectively stood in front of the young dragon and dragonfly.

"Time you learned how complicated life can be" Cynder told them with a small grin as she menacingly circled them like a wolf circles it's pray.

The dark dragoness stood up on her hind legs and used her long neck to bat them back onto the platform, causing them to yelp in surprise and pain.

'Crap, she's tough.' Isaac thought with a groan as his health was brought down by two bars, but were still blue.

The armored engineer shakily stood up and helped Spyro to his feet soon after.

"Run, Spyro… Isaac… save yourselves!" Ignitus called from his energy prison.

"Not this time. This time I fight." the purple dragon said with a look of determination.

"I've killed worse things than you." Isaac added as he looked at the dark dragoness.

"Ha ha ha ha ha… bring it, pets!" Cynder laughed darkly as she adopted a combat stance.

Isaac aimed his plasma cutter to cut off her wing, but gradually lowered it after some thought.

'Maybe she can still be saved.' he reasoned in his head.

"Cynder… you need to see reason. You don't have to do this." the armored human tried to convince her.

Cynder chuckled and clicked her tongue as she shook her head.

"Talky time is over now. I need to punish my new pets." she replied with a toothy smile.

"Spyro, don't kill her." Isaac whispered to his friend as the dark dragoness approached them.

The purple dragon nodded in understanding upon looking her in the eyes and began blasting her with a few waves of earth energy. She grunted from the powerful attack, but back-pawed him away, bringing his own health bar to yellow.

'Holy shit, she's strong!' the armored engineer thought in alarm as he fired a warning shot between her and Spyro.

Cynder whipped around to face the human and smacked him with her wing. He grunted in pain as his RIG's health bar went down to yellow. Not wanting to be completely defenseless, he reeled back to strike her.

"RUUUGH!" Isaac roared as he smashed his plasma cutter across her face, making her yelp in pain.

The black dragoness snarled once she fully recovered and grabbed the space engineer's shoulders, making him gasp in shock. They began shrugging to gain physical superiority over the other as Spyro smashed some spirit gems to heal himself, bringing his RIG back to blue.

"Submit…" Cynder ordered as she pushed him back slightly.

"No!" Isaac yelled in defiance as he pushed her right back.

"You're fighting for a lost cause!" Cynder hissed as she pushed him into the wall and held him there.

Spyro saw the struggle and readied a fire attack to save his human ally.

"And you are fighting for a vision… that will only betray you!" Isaac reasoned as he struggled to get free.

"HE'S REAL!" the evil dragoness boomed as she raised her claws to strike.

Deciding that it was the right moment, Spyro lit up a wall of fire heading straight for Cynder. She saw the attack and quickly moved away just before the flames could hit her, releasing the space engineer in the process.

Isaac gasped in relief once she was away from him and ran to Spyro's side. Once they were side by side and the engineer healed himself, they looked up at Cynder. She stared at them with a mixture of disbelief and anger, but her frown slowly turned into a smile and she chuckled darkly.

"It is so sad it must end this way." she told them as she looked up at the stormy sky.

Spyro looked at her with a look of determination and flew straight for her.

"Spyro, wait!" Isaac yelled in shock.

The purple dragon didn't listen and continued flying. Just when he was about to hit her, she easily kicked him away with almost no difficulty.

"FUCK!" the space engineer screamed as he saw Spyro land quite a ways away on the platform.

"Now… where was I?" the dark dragoness asked as she pushed Isaac aside and approached Ignitus.

She quickly snatched the crystal away and took flight. She bursted through the window on the ceiling and flew upwards into the dark clouds. Once the crystal was removed, the energy holding Ignitus up disappeared and he fell to the floor with a loud thump.

"Does she ever use doors?" Sparx questioned, trying to lift up the gloomy mood.

Isaac shook his head and helped the Fire Guardian up. Once he was well enough to walk, they slowly walked up to the downed purple dragon.

"There was something in her eyes. Ignitus… something familiar." he told his mentor as he stood up.

"Yeah, I kinda did too." 'It was as if there was a hint of innocence in them.' the armored human said and thought.

"There should be, Spyro. You and Cynder share more than you know. It's time I told you the truth… all of it." Ignitus replied with a sad expression.

"About fucking time…" the space engineer mumbled quietly so they couldn't hear.

"You see. After I took your egg to the Silver River, I returned to the Grotto to find utter chaos. The other Guardians had been overrun… and all the other eggs had been smashed by the Dark Master's forces… all except for one…" Ignitus told them with a heavy sigh.

Isaac and Spyro looked at each other nervously, then looked back at the Fire Guardian in front of them.

"You see, the Dark Master was torn. He wanted to destroy all the eggs to prevent the birth of the purple dragon, but he also needed a dragon." the large fire dragon continued.

"Why would he need a dragon?" Spyro asked with a disturbed expression.

"Because, Spyro. Only one born in the Year of the Dragon could open the portal that served as the Dark Master's prison." Ignitus explained.

"Cynder?" the purple dragon questioned.

"I'm afraid so." the Fire Guardian confirmed with a small nod.

"And now Cynder has turned on the Dark Master in favor of the Marker." Isaac added with a sigh.

"I don't know what the Marker is, but that is also correct." Ignitus said quietly with a nod.

"But if we come from the same place, why is she so, so…" Spyro said as he struggled to think of the right wording.

"Sparx, shut the fuck up!" the space engineer snapped when he saw that the dragonfly was about to talk.

"Because, Spyro, after the night of the raid… she was corrupted by the Dark Master's poisonous powers… twisted by his evil lure. She's become the Dark Master's… no… the Marker's monster." Ignitus explained as the purple dragon shook his head in sadness.

"But why? What does this Dark Master and Marker want?" Spyro asked curiously.

"I don't know anything about this Marker that Isaac speaks of, but the Dark Master wants to be freed from the portal of Convexity… to wreak havoc across the realms and possibly beyond… and if Cynder frees him, even if her intentions are against him, he just might succeed." the Fire Guardian explained.

"What about the Marker? What does it want?" Spyro asked his human friend.

"The Marker… is a mysterious alien artifact. There are two kinds, the original Black Marker that is truly alien, and the Red Marker that is a human made copy of the black one. The red one is a reverse-engineered duplicate of the alien Black Marker. They were made to understand and utilize the technologies of the Black Marker back on Earth." the armored human explained with a quiet sigh.

"What does the Marker do exactly? What is it's purpose?" the purple dragon inquired as Ignitus nodded in agreed interest.

"Well, it's meant to understand DNA from what I understand. When the Marker is activated, it emits a highly tuned frequency that interacts with dead organic tissue… reanimates the cells." Isaac answered as he shifted his body weight from one foot to the other.

"But why is Cynder seeing these things and turning her back on the Dark Master?" Spyro urged.

"The frequency affects living organisms as well. Most people can't decipher the signal, only hearing mere noise. They usually end up getting extreme paranoia and start killing people and themselves. Then there are those like me… who see dead loved ones…" the armored engineer revealed with a shaky voice.

"You're seeing things?" Ignitus asked with a concerned expression.

"I've been having hallucinations and hearing things for about six days now. I keep seeing my girlfriend, Nicole, but that's just not possible. She killed herself back on the Ishimura." Isaac answered as he was struggling not to cry.

'That's why he was crying and scared before we left. He must have been hallucinating Nicole.' Spyro realized in his head as he looked at the distraught engineer.

He walked up to the human, stood up on his hind legs, and hugged him closely.

"Please don't be sad. You're like a father to me." the young dragon said softly as he held him.

Isaac was shocked that Spyro cared for him in that way, but that only made him gladly hug back. Ignitus smiled as he watched their relationship strengthen.

After a few moments of silence, they broke away from the hug. Their moment of peace was broken however, when a large blue-violet portal appeared in the sky and Cynder flew into it.

"I'm afraid we might be too late." Ignitus said sadly, losing all hope.

"No it's not, I got a cruise shuttle and I have the proper necessities to get it flying into space itself again." Isaac said with determination in his voice.

"Isaac's right. I refuse to give up… we're going to stop Cynder, the Dark Master, and the Marker." Spyro added as he adopted a determined expression.

"Wait you; you heard the dragon, guys. He said, too late. We'll get him next time." Sparx said cowardly.

"I'm gonna squish you if you don't shut up." the armored engineer warned with an angry frown behind his helmet.

"Okay, okay, you're right. At the least, you have to try. If the Dark Master escapes, a shadow will fall over the land, and who knows what will happen if the Marker is found." the Fire Guardian warned seriously.

"We know. Let's go Spyro!" Isaac said with confidence as he led the purple dragon and Sparx back to the elevator to get back to his ship.

"May the Ancestors look after you. May they look after us all." Ignitus prayed as he watched the elevator go down, taking the three heroes down with it.


	17. The Evil in Convexity

**We're nearing the end of this story. You readers excited? I'm sure that you'll all like this chapter because I've dipped a little bit into the horror genre in this one. Enjoy the chapter and rremember to eview or PM!**

Chapter 17: The Evil in Convexity

Spyro, Isaac, and Sparx waited impatiently as the elevator slowly moved it's way downwards. Once the elevator finally reached the ground floor, the three friends bolted off the platform and ran for the exit.

They all exited the tower and quickly ran into the ship at the bottom of the stairs.

"Get in the flight deck! I'll be right there in a minute!" Isaac instructed as he closed the hatch behind them.

Spyro and Sparx nodded and did as instructed while the armored human approached the wall directly ahead of the hatch. He pressed a small holographic button and a piece of the wall slide open, revealing the ship's singularity core that once belonged to the USM Valor.

'Hope this works.' the space engineer thought as he took out the dark crystal he got from the tower and connected it to the singularity core.

"Main engines are now online. Space flight systems have been restored." the female computer voice informed everyone on board the shuttle.

The wall automatically sealed itself once the repairs were made and the armored human rushed to the next room and into the pilot's seat. He quickly typed in a few yellow holographic keys and the ship slowly raised into the air.

"Can the ship even fly through this storm?" Spyro asked nervously as Isaac piloted the shuttle upwards towards the evil portal.

"This ship could fly through an asteroid belt without much trouble, we'll be fine." the space engineer assured.

He piloted the shuttle upwards until they were at the same level as the portal. He leveled the ship and flew straight for it.

"Here we go." Isaac said quietly as they quickly approached the anomaly.

They flew through the large portal and the next thing they knew, they were in Convexity itself. The area's landscape consists of a dark purple sky with a few blood red planets in the distance. There are also giant jellyfish like creatures flouting around in the air.

"What the fuck?" the armored engineer asked under his breath as he piloted the ship through this alien environment.

"Is that island floating?" Sparx asked with a dumbstruck expression as they approached a stone platform with a pinkish purple energy beam shooting out from the top and bottom of it.

Spyro and Isaac didn't answer and simply nodded as they looked at all the strange sights.

"This place is weird, but we came for a reason. We need to stop the Dark Master and the Marker." the purple dragon reminded them with a look of determination.

"Now that's good integrity." Isaac chuckled as he flew past a few smaller islands and jellyfish below them.

Spyro couldn't help, but smile at his compliment and looked ahead.

"Oh shit… I see Cynder flying around that island." the armored engineer groaned as they got closer to the platform.

"I guess that means we won't waste time then. Can you land now?" the purple dragon asked with a sigh.

"Alright… I'm bringing her down." the armored human told them as he typed in a few holographic keys.

The shuttle slowly lowered onto the platform until it came to a full stop and landed. Isaac powered down the ship and stood up.

Just before Spyro was about to stand as well, a very large creature slowly, yet harmlessly flew past them. It looked like a mixture between an octopus, a snail, and a whale. It slowly twirled around as it flew straight up away from them.

"Now I've seen everything." Sparx commented.

"Yeah, if we don't hurry, I have a feeling you're going to see a whole lot more. Come on." Spyro said impatiently as he stood up.

"Let's go." Isaac said in agreement as he led them through the door and into the mid-deck.

He opened the hatch and immediately scanned the area for dangers with his plasma cutter. When he confirmed that there were no ground based threats, he stepped onto the platform with his two companions close behind.

Once they were all out of the shuttle, Cynder landed on the platform and placed the crystal on an altar in the middle of the floating island.

"My former Master returns… to die." She hissed with a crazed grin as the crystal was raised into the air and was sucked into the dark beam.

"We're too late!" Spyro cried in horror.

"Hmmmm! Persisteal little fellas, aren't you?" Cynder asked as she turned around and faced the three heroes.

Her eyes darted from Spyro to Isaac as she slowly approached them.

"This is where it really ends. I will kill the Dark Master and make you my pets." the dark dragoness promised darkly.

"Bring it!" the purple dragon challenged as he adopted a combat stance and Isaac readied his plasma cutter.

"No mercy this time." she warned with a grin as she also got ready for battle.

"I can't watch this." Sparx commented nervously as he turned around and covered his eyes.

Before anyone could make a move however, Isaac groaned in pain and rested his head on his free hand. As Spyro and Cynder stared at him in confusion, the engineer saw the Marker's symbols flouting around the area and shadows of various necromorphs snarling at them all.

"Cynder… you awoke something… evil…" Isaac informed them with a shaky voice.

"W-what are these things?" the black dragoness asked as she also started seeing the disturbing images.

"What are you two talking about!? What are you seeing!?" Spyro asked with a very confused expression.

"You're not seeing this?" the armored human questioned as the shadows slowly approached them.

"No." the purple dragon answered as he shook his head and looked at them worriedly.

Isaac was about to ask another question, but he was interrupted when Cynder shrieked in fear. In her perspective, the shadow of a leaper raised it's whole body and sprinted towards her with it's arms.

"Fuck!" the space engineer yelled as he ran in front of the fear-stricken dragoness and took out his ripper.

Cynder watched in both fear and fascination as the armored human activated the advanced tool and sliced the limbs off the shadow leaper until it disappeared completely. She yelped in surprise however, when a shadow lurker leapt onto her back and raised the tentacles on it's back to stab her.

'What's going on!?' Spyro screamed in his head as he watched them fight their nonexistent foes.

"You are all going to die tonight." Nicole and Cynder's father's voices said darkly to Isaac and Cynder.

"No… we're… NOT!" Cynder boomed as she threw the shadow lurker over her shoulder and breathed a continues shroud of shadow fire at it, causing it to shriek in pain and disappear.

The dark dragoness panted from the exertion of energy and looked at the armored human to see how he was fairing.

Isaac gasped in pain as a shadow slasher stabbed into his shoulder. He whipped around and fired a saw blade through the shadow necromorph's arm and finished it off by shooting it's other arm off with his plasma cutter.

Spyro' eyes widened when he saw his human friend scream and his health bar went down. The engineer gave him a reassuring nod and ran over to him.

"What's happening!?" the purple dragon asked in a terrified voice.

"I don't know, but whatever's happening, it's only affecting me and Cynder. We need to end this quickly and get out of here!" Isaac yelled over all the snarls and roars.

Cynder watched the two friends talk over the chaos around them for awhile. She also noticed that not all of the shadow monsters were attacking them at the moment, which she was relieved of.

"Honey…" she heard her father's voice behind her.

"Daddy?" the black dragoness asked as she turned around, but her eyes widened in horror at what she saw.

Cynder's father was standing a few feet away, but he looked different. His black scales were very pale and brittle, he was much skinnier, and his blue irises were an unnatural looking light brown.

The black dragoness shivered in fear at her father's new look and took a step back.

"Make us whole…" her father hissed as he raised his tail blade and opened his mouth.

Cynder gasped in horror as he dug his own tailblade into his mouth and carved into his right cheek. Scales, blood, and muscles fell to the floor as he cut out his entire right cheek, exposing his blood stained teeth. Once he was finished, he pulled his tailblade away and glared at her.

"W-w-w-why the f-fuck did you do that!?" she screamed as she took several steps back

Cynder's father didn't answer and slowly walked towards her with his bloody tail blade at the ready.

"NO! GET AWAY! HELP!" the black dragoness yelled as she backed up into the altar.

Isaac's head whipped around to look at Cynder, but in his perspective, Nicole was the one who was approaching her. He hesitantly raised his plasma cutter and fired.

Cynder's father/Nicole disappeared in a cloud of shadows as the plasma bolt hit it.

Cynder's eyes widened once the evil entity was destroyed and pinkish red energy flowed into her body. She hovered into the air. All of a sudden, a wave of fire blew out in all directions, destroying all of the shadow necromorphs.

"You are mine…" a male voice whispered darkly in her head.

"Yes, Master." Cynder said quietly.

"Oh no, she's with the Dark Master again!" Spyro yelled as he ran up to Isaac's side.

"You're right. Spyro, I can't fight her because I might kill her. I don't like this, but you need to finish this." the space engineer told him with a serious tone of voice.

The purple dragon nodded with a look of determination and stepped forward. Cynder watched him with interest as she hovered in the air using her wings. He opened his mouth to hit her with a blast of fire, but he was surprised when a purple energy blast came out instead.

The corrupted dragoness grunted with pain when she was hit and snarled at him.

"Keep going! It's working!" Isaac called.

Spyro did as instructed and hit her with more of the strange purple energy as he dodged her various shadow fire attacks.

After a long while of dodging and blasting, the purple dragon felt immense power within him. He decided to act upon instinct and let this new power flow through him. A purple aura covered his body and he opened his mouth.

A huge blast of the purple energy smashed against Cynder and various other energy blasts shot through her from all directions.

"Holy shit…" Isaac said quietly as he watched the display of intense power.

The purple energy based assault proved to much for Cynder and she fell out of the sky and landed on her back. Cynder moaned in pain as her body glowed slightly and she shrunk down to Spyro's size.

"She's… just a kid." the armored engineer mumbled in both amazement and sadness.

"She IS just like me." Spyro exclaimed in agreement.

Before anyone could do anything however, the entire area began shaking and the altar's supernatural beam got more intense.

"Dudes, we've got to get out of here… NOW!" Sparx shouted in alarm.

"I can't leave her behind… I've got to save her." the purple dragon told his brother with a look of determination.

"What? Save the beast that's been trying to kill us?" the dragonfly asked in disbelief.

"That wasn't her fault… she was being used by the Dark Master!" Spyro argued.

"Fuck this. Get in the fucking ship!" Isaac ordered both of them as he put his plasma cutter in his inventory.

"But Isaac…" the purple dragon started.

He couldn't finish however because the armored engineer began sprinting towards Cynder's weakened form.

Isaac noticed that the beam was pulling them both in and he used his magnetic boots to stick to the platform's surface. Once he reached the weakened dragoness, he scooped her up into his arms and ran for his ship.

"Now we can go!" Spyro told his brother as they all entered the ship and into the flight deck.

Spyro and Sparx sat down on the passenger seat as Isaac sat in the pilot's seat with Cynder resting on his lap. The space engineer quickly typed in multiple holographic keys and the shuttle quickly took off towards the portal.

"Spyro…" the purple dragon heard the male voice whisper in his head, but he chose to ignore it for now.

Isaac piloted the shuttle through the portal and they flew through a bright tunnel to reach the Dragon Realms. They eventually made it through the exit and they found themselves flying over a forest.

Everyone gasped in relief and leaned back in their seats. The space engineer put the shuttle on autopilot and reached for his helmet. With a hiss of decompressed air, the helmet was pulled off and he dropped it on the floor to his left.

The two dragons and dragonfly looked in amazement as they saw his battered face for the first time. They observed every little bit of detail about his face. They looked at his short black hair that is showing signs of graying, his mostly hairless face, the heavy bags under his eyes, and his light blue eyes.

"You're a lot older than I thought you'd be." Sparx commented with a smirk.

Isaac responded by flipping the dragonfly off, causing Cynder to giggle and rest her head against his armored chest.

"We did it!" Spyro cheered with a happy smile.

"No, Spyro, I have a feeling that this is just the beginning." Isaac said seriously as the ship flew towards the Temple.


	18. Dead Space

**Well, we finally made it. We're at the last chapter of this story. It's been a long road, but we're at last at the conclusion. This chapter will be kinda short, but I guess that should be expected for the last chapter of anything. Enjoy the last update to Dead Realm!**

Chapter 18: Dead Space

Isaac has been piloting the shuttle for a couple hours now. The sun was lowering in the horizon and everyone, but the armored human have fallen asleep. He smiled to himself as Cynder cuddled up to him on his lap. This was the most at peace he's felt in a long time, too long if you asked him.

The space engineer's head perked up when he noticed that they were approaching the Temple. He pushed a few holographic buttons to decreased the ship's speed and gently landed in front of the stone building.

Once the ship was powered down, he picked up both Cynder and Spyro, rested Sparx on his shoulder, and left through the hatch.

"Greetings, Isaac. I'm happy that you all survived." Ignitus greeted with a smile as he and the other Guardians walked up to them.

"So that's what you're face looks like. How fascinating." Volteer commented as he hopped up and down with excitement upon the sight of the engineer's unarmored face.

Terrador shook his head at the Guardian of Electricity as Isaac gently rested Spyro and Cynder on the ground in front of him. He noticed that Sparx just woke up and was flying next to the purple dragon.

The two young dragons groaned quietly as they woke up. They blinked a couple times and looked at all the adults around them.

"Feeling better, Spyro?" the Fire Guardian asked with a soft tone of voice.

'What about Cynder? She took the blunt of this shit.' Isaac asked with annoyance in his head as he rested his gloved hand on her shoulder.

"Not really, Ignitus. That battle drained every last bit of my strength. I can hardly even lift my head." Spyro replied honestly with a troubled expression.

"Yes, it will take some time for your powers to return." Ignitus told him.

The purple dragon sighed quietly and lowered his head in disappointment.

"But they will in time, young dragon. They will in time." the Fire Guardian assured softly.

Isaac cleared his throat at this point and nodded towards the black dragoness in front of him. The fire dragon got the hint and faced the young dragoness.

"Cynder, ever since I failed the night of the raid, I've dreamed of this day." Ignitus said with a small tear in his eye.

"It wasn't just you, Ignitus. We all failed." Volteer comforted as Terrador and Cyril nodded in agreement.

"Be that as it may… we're together again now… thanks to Spyro and Isaac. Well done." the fire dragon told the two friends with a happy smile.

"Thanks, Ignitus, but we still don't know what's happened to the Dark Master and the Marker…" the purple dragon reminded him with a worried expression.

"No matter, Spyro. There will be time to talk of the Dark Master and this… Marker… later. Now it's time to be grateful for your success." Terrador assured confidently.

"Their success? What about me?" Sparx asked as he flew up to the Guardians.

'Just shut up.' Isaac thought with a groan.

"Just because a bunch of weird stuff doesn't come flying out of my mouth doesn't mean that I didn't help, ya know!" the glowing dragonfly continued.

"You were a big help, Sparx. No doubt about it." Spyro assured with a smile.

"You didn't do a fuckin thing." the armored engineer stated emotionlessly, making Cynder giggle.

"Just for the record… a lot of weird stuff does come out of that little mouth of yours." the purple dragon added, resisting the urge to laugh.

"And what the heck is that supposed to mean?" Sparx questioned with his hands on his hips and a glare.

"It means you're annoying." Isaac clarified with a glare of his own.

"You know, I don't need this. I could have stayed with the… Llama people, whatever, where I was appreciated, but no. No, I decided to help the poor helpless dragons and human rid the world of evil. What a mistake that was because I get no thanks, no respect, no love, no credit…" the yellow dragonfly said as he flew up in Cyril and Terrador's faces.

"I'm gonna beat the shit out of you!" Isaac promised as he cracked his knuckles.

"My goodness… and I thought Volteer talked a lot." Ignitus thought aloud.

"I left home too, you know. I'm a little guy. Yeah, that's right. Maybe you haven't…" Sparx couldn't finish because a certain engineer punched him and he flew right into the wall.

"I warned you!" he reminded loudly as he went back into a normal stance.

"Mommy…?" the dragonfly asked shakily as he slid onto the floor and passed out.

"That worked." Cyril commented before he and Volteer went into a fit of laughter.

"So, Isaac, what are you going to do now?" Ignitus asked curiously with a raised eyebrow.

"I know you won't like it, but I need to go back to space. I was planning on leaving now, actually." the space engineer replied quietly.

"What!? No, don't leave." Spyro beseeched as he weakly stood up, only to plop down again because of him being so weak at the moment.

"I don't want you to leave either." Cynder whispered in agreement.

"I will be back, I promise. I just need to take care of a few things first." the armored human assured as he rested on his knee so that they were at eye level with one another.

The two young dragons nodded in understanding and hugged him. He sighed quietly and hugged back, causing the Guardians to smile.

After a short while, the space engineer released the two young dragons and slowly stood up.

"Be safe, Isaac." Spyro told him with a small smile.

"We'll miss you." Cynder added quietly.

"I will, don't worry. I'll be back soon. Um… bye." Isaac told them all before turning around to enter the ship.

He took a few steps forward, but Ignitus stopped him before he could enter his ship.

"They really do care about you. You're like a father to them both." the Fire Guardian whispered to him.

"I know. I promise that I'll be back as soon as I can." the space engineer promised with a nod.

Ignitus nodded as well and stepped away. Isaac faced his ship once again and walked inside through the hatch.

The armored human closed the hatch behind him, entered the flight deck, sat down in his seat, and booted up the systems.

Isaac typed in a few holographic keys, making the shuttle slowly raised off the ground and into the air. He watched as everyone waved in farewell as he went higher and higher. Giving them a small smile, he waved back before typing in a few more keys.

The shuttle tilted upwards and started moving straight up into the sky. The yellowish sky slowly changed to a dark blue, then black with small stars in the distance as he exited the planet's atmosphere.

The armored engineer looked back at the Earth like planet with fascination as it got smaller and smaller behind him. With a heavy sigh, he set the ship on autopilot and pressed one of the red holographic buttons.

"Distress signal activated. Message will repeat until a response is received." the female computer voice informed him.

The space engineer sighed again and leaned back in his seat he looked at the small monitor to his left.

_NOW EXITING PORPURA SYSTEM_

The armored human combed his gloved fingers through his black hair and looked in front of him.

'Now all I gotta do is wait and be rescued.' Isaac Clarke thought to himself as he watched the stars pass by on the other side of the windshield.

**And that's it! It's been a long road, but we finally made it to the end. I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed or sent a PM for your support and suggestions. I am grateful that you take the time to write to me. And now I will be working on the long awaited In the Name of Liberty II. **


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